From  apainting  by  Jay  Httmbidge.  Courtesy  of  the  Century  Co. 

KING  DARIUS  OFFERS  SACRIFICE  UNTO  ORMAZD 
(See  page  808) 


PERSIA  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

A  BOOK  OF  TRAVEL 
AND  RESEARCH 

WITH   MORE    THAN   TWO    HUNDRED    ILLUSTRATIONS   AND   A   MAF 


BY 


A.  V.  WILLIAMS  JACKSON 

PROFESSOR  OF  INDO-IRANIAN   LANGUAGES,   AND  SOMETIME 

ADJUNCT    PROFESSOR    OF    THE    ENGLISH    LANGUAGE 

AND  LITERATURE  IN  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
190G 

All  rights  reserved 


'•  \  • 
?  •   -•  • 


\-JBEHEBM. 


COPYRIGHT,  1906, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  September,  1906.     Reprinted 
December,  1906. 


NortoooH 

J.  8.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  ik-rwick  A  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Muss.,  U.S.A. 


TO   MY   MOTHER 

More  is  thy  due  than  more  than  all  can  pay.' 

Sll  AKSPERE. 


PREFACE 

THE  preparation  of  this  volume  has  been  a  work  after  my 
own  heart  for  the  past  three  years,  and  I  am  now  almost  sorry 
that  it  is  finished,  although  it  has  been  carried  forward  amid 
many  distractions  of  an  official  and  public  nature  besides  my 
regular  duties  at  the  University.  I  have  entitled  it  a  book  of 
travel  and  research,  having  essayed  the  somewhat  difficult  task 
of  combining  these  two  themes  into  a  union  which  I  hope  will 
be  found  true,  at  least  in  spirit,  even  if  imperfect  when  judged 
by  the  standards  that  I  should  like  to  uphold. 

I  was  tempted  at  first  to  label  some  of  the  chapters,  like 
those  on  Takht-i  Suleiman,  Kangavar,  Ragha,  and  a  part  of 
the  section  on  the  Old  Persian  Inscriptions,  with  a  warning, 
4  this  chapter  is  dedicated  to  the  student,'  and  to  prefix  to 
other  chapters,  like  those  on  the  different  cities,  By  Caravan 
and  Cavalcade,  Pasargadse,  and  Persepolis,  a  prefatory  line, 
'dedicated  to  the  general  reader.'  I  decided  against  such  a 
procedure,  because  I  believe  that  the  interests  of  both  are  ulti- 
mately one,  and  if  the  general  reader  enjoys  a  comfortable  forty 
winks  while  certain  technical  matters  are  being  discussed,  he 
will  awaken  refreshed  to  resume  his  interest  at  a  point  where 
the  specialist  may  begin  to  nod.  But  these  very  comments 
may  have  in  themselves  a  somnolent  effect  and  defeat  their 
own  end  by  superinducing  the  results  they  are  seeking  to  avert. 
For  that  reason  I  shall  refrain  from  adding  others,  and  shall 
proceed  rather  to  bring  out  the  points  which  I  wish  to 
emphasize. 

By  hard  work  during  my  stay  in  Persia,  I  succeeded  in 
seeing  a  good  deal  of  the  country  and  observing  Persian  life 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

with  that  keenness  of  interest  which  enthusiasm  for  the  sub- 
ject produces  and  that  closeness  of  application  which  years  of 
preparation  tend  to  cultivate.  I  could  have  wished  that  the 
time  and  means  at  my  disposal  had  been  more  abundant,  but 
4  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  no  bread  at  all,'  and  years  of  expe- 
rience in  travel  have  taught  me  that  impressions  gained  in  a 
few  months  are  often  more  vivid  than  when  the  stay  in  the 
country  is  prolonged  indefinitely.  Of  course,  there  is  the 
well-recognized  danger  of  receiving  wrong  impressions  and  of 
generalizing  from  insufficient  data,  but  I  have  tried  to  reduce 
the  factor  of  error  as  far  as  possible  by  seeing  as  much  of  the 
country  as  I  could,  so  as  to  be  able  to  distinguish  between 
local  and  general  conditions,  and  by  subjecting  my  observations 
to  the  test  of  comparison  with  the  history  of  the  country  from 
the  earliest  times.  How  far  I  have  succeeded  or  failed  must 
be  decided  by  those  who  are  competent  to  judge.  I  can  only 
plead  in  my  own  behalf  that  I  have  worked  conscientiously 
throughout  to  make  the  book  as  good  as  I  was  able,  and  one 
example  of  this  will  be  found  in  the  attention  given  also  to 
illustration.  The  illustrations  that  are  ordinarily  presented 
I  have  supplemented  by  pictures  of  subjects  that  are  rarely 
chosen,  and  I  have  done  this  mainly  from  a  collection  of  photo- 
graphs taken  by  myself  on  the  journey  or  by  friends  in  Persia. 
How  little  can  be  done  without  the  aid  of  one's  predecessors, 
when  writing  a  book,  will  be  best  appreciated  by  those  who 
have  aimed,  like  myself,  at  adding  a  mite  to  the  body  of  knowl- 
edge already  existing.  On  that  account  I  have  constantly 
and  without  hesitation  consulted  the  works  of  my  fellow- 
laborers  in  the  field  during  the  past  three  thousand  years,  from 
Zoroaster  and  Herodotus,  through  the  Arab  writers,  to  Ker 
Porter,  Browne,  and  Curzon.  I  have  been  careful  everywhere 
to  quote  my  sources  for  any  special  piece  of  information  and 
to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  without  hesitation.  If  the 
footnotes  seem  more  abundant  than  usual,  it  is  because  of 
this  desire  faithfully  to  provide  the  reader  with  the  means  of 


PREFACE  IX 

consulting  the  material  used  at  each  particular  point  or  to 
enable  him  to  call  into  question  a  view  I  have  expressed,  be- 
cause I  have  frankly  stated  the  fact  when  the  authorities  are  at 
variance. 

There  are  several  respects  in  which  I  should  have  liked  to 
be  able  to  bring  the  book  nearer  to  completeness,  but  I  think 
I  may  say  with  all  modesty  that  some  compensation  for  this 
will  be  found  in  the  suggestiveness  of  the  volume  because  of 
the  light  it  throws  upon  certain  historical  points  which  were 
not  previously  clear  or  even  known  before  ;  and  I  also  believe 
that  many  readers  will  welcome  a  new  presentation  of  matters 
that  were  already  familiar  to  them.  The  student  of  Zoroas- 
trianism,  moreover,  will  find  many  points  to  consider  in  con- 
nection with  his  own  work,  especially  the  numerous  identifica- 
tions suggested  for  ancient  sites,  or  explanations  proposed  for 
doubtful  passages  in  the  literature,  as  I  have  always  kept  that 
in  view. 

I  have  spoken  of  my  indebtedness  to  those  of  the  past;  I 
have  also  an  obligation  to  the  present  which  I  deeply  feel. 
First  of  all,  I  am  indebted  to  President  Nicholas  Murray 
Butler  and  the  Trustees  of  Columbia  University  for  granting 
me  leave  of  absence  to  visit  Iran.  Then,  I  am  grateful  to  the 
many  friends,  as  well  as  officials,  who  gave  me  suggestions  and 
aid  in  regard  to  my  journey.  The  Christian  missionaries  at 
home  were  especially  helpful  in  this  respect,  and  in  Persia 
they  welcomed  me  at  their  homes  with  a  hospitality  for  which 
I  shall  ever  be  grateful. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  book  on  my  return,  I  received 
many  serviceable  hints  from  Mr.  Frank  E.  Morgan,  of  Ben- 
nington,  Vermont,  and  I  owe  a  special  debt  of  gratitude  to 
two  of  my  student  friends.  To  my  pupil,  Dr.  Louis  H.  Gray, 
former  Fellow  in  Indo-Iranian  Languages  at  Columbia,  I  wish 
to  express  my  sincere  thanks  for  generous  assistance  rendered 
in  reading  over  the  manuscript  of  a  large  part  of  the  book 
before  it  went  to  the  press  and  for  his  counsel  with  regard 


X  PREFACE 

to  matters  of  general  presentation.  To  my  younger  pupil, 
Mr.  George  C.  O.  Haas,  A.M.,  Fellow  in  Indo-Iranian,  I  am 
especially  grateful  for  help  from  the  beginning.  Hardly  a 
day  has  passed  since  the  first  chapter  was  written  without 
his  giving  me  some  aid,  either  by  going  through  the  entire 
manuscript  with  an  eye  to  matters  of  detail,  or  by  correcting 
with  me  every  page  of  proof  as  it  came  from  the  compositor, 
or  by  preparing  the  Index,  the  value  of  which  the  reader  will 
easily  recognize.  There  are  many  other  friends  whose  kind- 
ness I  recall,  but  if  their  names  be  missing  in  print,  it  is  not 
because  they  are  forgotten,  but  because  they  are  4  registered 
where  every  day  I  turn  the  leaf  to  read  them,'  including  among 
this  number  the  publishers,  whose  generous  attitude  toward 
the  subject  has  enabled  me  to  present  the  work  in  a  way  that 
I  hope  may  find  favor  with  the  reader,  general  and  special, 
for  whom  the  book  is  written. 

A.  V.  WILLIAMS  JACKSON. 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY, 
May  7,  1906. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE vii 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS xiii 

LIST  OF  WORKS  OF  REFERENCE xxvi 

LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS xxx 

CHAPTEB 

I.    EN  ROUTE  FOR  THE  LAND  OF  THE  LION  AND  THE  SUN      .  1 

II.    TIFLIS,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  TRANSCAUCASIA       ....  7 
III.    ERIVAN,  MOUNT  ARARAT,  AND  THE  ROAD  TO  THE  PERSIAN 

BORDER 16 

•^    IV.    PERSIA,  THE  LAND  AND  ITS  HISTORY,  AND  OUR  INTEREST 

IN  THE  COUNTRY 24 

V.    THROUGH  THE  SNOW  FROM  THE  ARAS  TO  TABRIZ        .        .  33 
VI.    TABRIZ,  THE  RESIDENCE  OF  THE  CROWN  PRINCE  ...        .39 

VII.    ZOROASTER  AND  THE  AVESTA 57 

VIII.    AROUND  LAKE  URUMIAH 70 

IX.    URUMIAH,  A  SUPPOSED  EARLY  HOME  OF  ZOROASTER   .        .  87 

X.    BY  CARAVAN  AND  CAVALCADE 108 

XL    TAKHT-I    SULEIMAN,    AN    ANCIENT    FORTIFIED    TOWN    IN 

RUINS 124 

XII.    HAMADAN,  THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 144 

XIII.  THE  ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS  OF  THE  GREAT  PERSIAN  KINGS    .  175 

XIV.  THE  GREAT  BEHISTAN  ROCK  AND  AN  ASCENT  TO  READ  THE 

CUNEIFORM  RECORDS  OF  KING  DARIUS       .        .        .        .186 

XV.    TAK-I  BOSTAN  AND  KERMANSHAH 213 

XVI.    THE  GREAT  RUINED  TEMPLE  OF   THE  PERSIAN  DIANA  AT 

KANGAVAR 234 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVII.    FROM    HAMADAN   TO    THE    RUINED   FIRE-TEMPLE  NEAR 

ISFAHAN 245 

XVIII.    ISFAHAN,  THE  FORMER  CAPITAL 262 

XIX.    ANCIENT  PASARGAD.E   AND   THE   TOMB   OF  CYRUS   THE 

GREAT 278 

XX.    PERSEPOLIS  AND  ITS  MONUMENTS 294 

XXI.    SHIRAZ,  THE  HOME  OF  THE  PERSIAN  POETS     .        .        .  321 

XXII.     FROM  SHIRAZ  TO  YEZD 339 

XXIII.  THE  ZOROASTRIANS  OF  YEZD 353 

XXIV.  ZOROASTRIAN    RELIGIOUS    CUSTOMS    AT   YEZD      .            .            .  378 

XXV.    FROM  YEZD  TO  TEHERAN 401 

XXVI.    TEHERAN,  THE  MODERN  CAPITAL  OF  PEUSIA  .        .        .  418 

XXVII.    RUINS  OF  REI,  OR  ANCIENT  RAGHA 428 

XXVIII.    THROUGH  MAZANDARAN  TO  THE  CASPIAN  SEA        .        .  442 

GENERAL  INDEX     449 

INDEX  OF  PASSAGES 469 

MAP  OF  PERSIA                      472 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

KING  DARIUS  OFFERS  SACRIFICE  UNTO  ORMAZD        .        .       Frontispiece 
From  a  painting  by  Jay  Hambidge. 

PAQB 

OLD  FORTIFICATIONS  AT  ELIZABETPOL,  THE  ANCIENT  GANJAH       .        3 
From  a  photograph. 

THE  OLD  CITADEL  OF  TIFLIS 5 

From  a  print. 

GENERAL  VIEW  OF  TIFLIS 5 

From  a  print. 

THE  MICHAELIS  BRIDGE  OVER  THE  KURA  AT  TIFLIS       ...        7 
From  a  print. 

THE  CAUCASIAN  MUSEUM,  TIFLIS 7 

From  a  print. 

RUINED    TOWER    AND    AQUEDUCT    OVERLOOKING    THE    BOTANICAL 

GARDEN 10 

From  a  print. 

THE  TARTAR  MEIDAN  AT  TIFLIS 10 

From  a  print. 

YEZIDIS,  OR  SO-CALLED  DEVIL- WORSHIPPERS,  IN  TIFLIS  ...      12 
From  a  photograph. 

TYPES  OF  YEZIDIS,  OR  DEVIL-WORSHIPPERS,  AT  TIFLIS   ...      14 
From  a  photograph. 

TIFLIS  CITADEL  (Another  View)  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .14 

From  a  print. 

MOUNT  ARARAT,  NEAR  ERIVAN    ........      17 

From  a  print. 

RUSTOM,  MY  GEORGIAN  GUIDE  TO  THE  FRONTIER     .        .        .        .17 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

ERIVAN 19 

From  a  print. 

ARMENIAN  CHURCH  AND  MONASTERY  AT  ECHMIADZIN     ...      19 
From  a  print. 

xiii 


xiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

ECHMIADZIN  IN  THE  SNOW .        .21 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

BAZAAR  OF  ERIVAN 21 

From  a  print. 

A  CARAVAN  IN  THE  SNOW 23 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  DIEULAFOY  FRIEZE  OF  ARCHERS  FROM  SUSA    ....      24 
From  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  Histoire  de  I' Art,  5.  868. 

DARIUS    III    DEFEATED    BY    ALEXANDER    IN    THE    BATTLE    OF    ISSUS    .         26 

From  the  Pompeian  Mosaic  in  the  Naples  Museum. 

YAZDAGARD  III  SLAIN  IN  A  MILL  AT  MERV 26 

From  the  Columbia  University  Manuscript  of  the  Shah  Namah. 

THE  PORTAL  OF  XERXES  AT  PERSEPOLIS 28 

From  a  photograph  by  A.  Sevruguin. 

His  ROYAL  HIGHNESS  MUZAFFAR  AD-DIN,  SHAH  OF  PERSIA  .        .      30 
From  a  photograph. 

THE  PERSIAN  INN  AT  JULFA,  WITH  THE  CUSTOM  HOUSE  ON  THE 

LEFT 32 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

A  PART  OF  THE  'ROAD'  BETWEEN  JULFA  AND  MARAND         .        .      32 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

MOUNTAIN    VILLAGE    BURIED   IN    SNOW   BETWEEN   MARAND    AND 

SOFIAN 35 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

A  RUINED  CARAVANSARAI  ON  THE  WAY 37 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

TABRIZ 39 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  ARK,  OR  CITADEL,  OF  TABRIZ 40 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  BLUE  MOSQUE,  TABRIZ 42 

From  a  photograph. 

INTERIOR  OF  BAZAAR  AT  TABRIZ 44 

From  Weeks,  From  the  Black  Sea,  p.  51. 

A  COURTYARD  ADJOINING  THE  BAZAAR,  TABRIZ       ....      46 
From  a  photograph. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  XV 


PAOK 


AN    ACH/EMENIAN   SEAL  :    THE   KlNG   SLAYING   A   MONSTER          .  .        51 

From  a  drawing  by  Mr.  Percy  Bodenstab. 

THE  CROWN  PRINCE'S  GARDEN  (Bagh-i  Shamal,  Northern  Garden)  .      51 

Courtesy  of  *  House  and  Garden.' 

SAFAR  AWAITING  DIRECTIONS 55 

From  a  photograph. 

A  PERSIAN  PAGE 58 

From  a  photograph. 

IDEALIZED  PORTRAIT  FROM  A  SCULPTURE  SUPPOSED  TO  REPRESENT 

ZOROASTER 62 

From  Karaka,  History  of  the  Parsis,  2.  146. 

AN  ANCIENT  MAGIAN 69 

From  Hyde,  Historia  Religionis  Veterum  Persarum,  p.  369. 

A  MANUSCRIPT  OF  THE  AVESTA  WITH  PAHLAVI  TRANSLATION        .      69 
From  the  Ms.  Jp.  1. 

THE  TYPICAL  VILLAGE  DOG  OF  AZARBAIJAN 76 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

MY  GUIDE  TO  THE  SASANIAN  SCULPTURE 76 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

SASANIAN  BAS-RELIEF,  NEAR  THE  PLAIN  OF  SALMAS        ...      81 
From  a  photograph. 

THE  GREAT  PLAIN  OF  URUMIAH         . 83 

From  a  photograph. 

PLOWING  WITH  BUFFALOES  NEAR  URUMIAH 83 

From  a  photograph. 

A  GLIMPSE  OF  URUMIAH       .        .        . 85 

From  a  photograph. 

NORTHERN  END  OF  LAKE  URUMIAH 85 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

A  BUTCHER  AND  A  COBBLER,  URUMIAH 87 

From  a  print. 

WOMEN  WASHING  CLOTHES,  URUMIAH 87 

From  a  photograph. 

EXCAVATIONS  IN  DEGALAH  ASH-HILL,  NEAR  URUMIAH     ...      90 
From  a  photograph  by  the  late  Rev.  B.  W.  Labaree. 


XVI  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

SPECIMEN  OF  ANCIENT  POTTERY  FROM  URUMIAH      ....      90 
In  the  author's  collection. 

A   PlT    EXCAVATED    IN    THE    DEGALAH    ASH-MOUND       ....         92 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

POTTERY  FROM  THE  TERMANI  ASH-HILL,  URUMIAH  ....      92 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

A  TYPICAL  MUD  HUT  AT  TERMANI,  NEAR  URUMIAH        ...      94 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

AN  OLD  MILL  NEAR  URUMIAH 94 

From  a  photograph  by  Mrs.  C.  S.  Blackburn. 

BAS-RELIEF  CYLINDER  FOUND  NEAR  URUMIAH  .        .        .  96 

In  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New  York. 

OPENING  AN  ANCIENT  GRAVE  IN  THE  SIDE  OF  THE  GEOG  TAPAH 

ASH-HILL 96 

From  a  photograph  by  Mr.  Paul  Shimmon. 

MART  MARIAM  CHURCH,  URUMIAH 101 

From  a  photograph  by  Mrs.  C.  S.  Blackburn. 

A  TYPICAL  GROUP  OF  MULLAHS  AND  SEI'DS 101 

From  a  photograph. 

AN  APPROACHING  CAMEL  TRAIN 108 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

PACKING  BAGGAGE  BEFORE  SUNRISE 108 

From  Weeks,  From  the  Black  Sea,  p.  63. 

LOWERING  LUGGAGE  FROM  THE  HOUSETOP  AT  DAWN       .        .        .112 
From  Weeks,  From  the  Black  Sea,  p.  98. 

A  PERSIAN  TELEGRAM 116 

Reproduced  from  the  original. 

A  CARAVAN  OF  NOMADS 117 

From  a  photograph. 

CHACHILI  HILL,  NEAR  URUMIAH 117 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

SARALAN,  A  VILLAGE  OF  MUD  HOUSES 119 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

KHOR  KHORAH,  NEAR  THE  FOREST  OF  REEDS 119 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xvii 

PAGE 

A  CARAVAN  LEADER     122 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

HOSHABAH,    MY    GUARD    FROM    URUMIAH    TO    MlANDOAB      .  .  .       122 

From  a  photograph. 

A  MOUNTED  GUARD 124 

After  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

A  TYPICAL  PERSIAN  VILLAGE 124 

Courtesy  of  '  House  and  Garden.' 

RAWLINSON'S  PLAN  OF  TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN 128 

From  Rawlinson,  Five  Oriental  Monarchies,  3.  27. 

THE  RUINED  FIRE-TEMPLE  AT  TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,  BURIED  IN  THE 

SNOW 133 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN  FROM  THE  EAST 133 

After  a  sketch  by  the  author. 

AFRASIAB  TAKEN  CAPTIVE  BY  HOM 140 

From  the  Columbia  University  Manuscript  of  the  Shah  Namah. 

BATTLE  BETWEEN  THE  IRANIANS  AND  TURANIANS    ....    140 
From  the  Columbia  University  Manuscript  of  the  Shah  Narnah. 

DISTANT  VIEW  OF  HAMADAN  AND  MOUNT  ALVAND  ....    145 

From  a  photograph  by  Mirza  Sahak,  of  Hamadan. 

THE  MUSALLAH,  HAMADAN 145 

From  a  photograph. 

ROUGH  PLAN  OF  HAMADAN 146 

Drawn  by  Aram  Zohrabian. 

PERSIAN  CATS  AT  THE  MISSION  HOUSE,  HAMADAN  ....    151 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  MUSALLAH  HILL,  HAMADAN 154 

From  a  photograph  by  Mirza  Sahak. 

THE  LION  OF  HAMADAN 160 

From  a  photograph  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Stileman. 

THE  LION'S  FACE 160 

From  a  photograph  by  Mirza  Sahak. 

BRIDGE  OVER  THE  RIVER  AT  HAMADAN  —  MOUNT  ALVAND  IN  THE 

BACKGROUND 165 

From  Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Moderne,  pi.  68. 


xvm  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


TOMB  OF  AVICENNA  (Ibn  Sina)    .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .167 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

TOMB  OF  ESTHER  AND  MORDECAI 167 

From  a  photograph  by  Mirza  Sahak. 

THE  GANJ  NAMAH  INSCRIPTIONS  IN  WINTER 170 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  WORD  '  GOD'  (BAGA)  IN  ANCIENT  PERSIAN  CUNEIFORM  LETTERS     170 
From  a  drawing  by  the  author. 

THE  GANJ  NAMAH  CUNEIFORM  INSCRIPTIONS  OF  DARIUS  AND  XERXES 

NEAR  HAMADAN 172 

From  a  photograph  by  Mirza  Sahak. 

THE  ROCK  OF  BEHISTAN  FROM  THE  SOUTH 177 

From  Rawlinson,  Five  Oriental  Monarchies,  3.  31. 

VIEW  OF  THE  BEHISTAN  ROCK  FROM  THE  UPPER  END     .        .        .    177 
Sketched  from  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  KERMAN  INSCRIPTION  OF  KING  DARIUS.   1.  THE  PERSIAN  TEXT     181 
From  a  photograph. 

THE  KERMAN  INSCRIPTION  OF  KING  DARIUS.  2.  THE  ELAMITIC  TEXT    183 
From  a  photograph. 

THE  KERMAN  INSCRIPTION  OF  KING  DARIUS.    3.  THE  BABYLONIAN 

TEXT 184 

From  a  photograph. 

REAR  VIEW  OF  THE  ROCK  OF  BEHISTAN 186 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin,  of  Teheran. 

THE  UNFINISHED  ROCK-SCREEN  AT  BEHISTAN 188 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

UP  ON  THE  LEDGE 188 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  BEHISTAN  SCULPTURES  AND  INSCRIPTIONS          .        .        .        .192 
From  Rawlinson,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  10.  pi.  2. 

KULI,  THE  HEAD  GUIDE  IN  THE  ASCENT U'J 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

PHOTOGRAPH  OF  A  SECTION  OF  THE  INSCRIPTION  OF  DARIUS,  BE- 
HISTAN 1.  61-71 196 

Taken  by  the  author. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xix 

PAGE 

FLANDIN'S  SKETCH  OF  THE  GOTARZES  SCULPTURE     ....    211 
From  Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  1.  pi.  19. 

THE  PARTHIAN  SCULPTURE  OF  GOTARZES,  MUTILATED  BY  A  Moi>- 

ERN  INSCRIPTION 211 

From  a  photograph  by  A.  Sevruguin. 

THE  VAULTED  STONE  GROTTOS  OF  TAK-I  BOSTAN    ....     213 
From  a  photograph. 

THE  SCULPTURED  PANEL  AT  TAK-I  BOSTAN 215 

From  de  Morgan,  Mission  Scient'ifique  en  Perse,  2.  pi.  34;  4.  pi.  35. 

THE  NIMBUS-CROWNED  FIGURE 216 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  SCULPTURED  FIGURE  OF  THE  FALLEN  FOE  AT  TAK-I  BOSTAN    218 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  LARGER  AND  THE  SMALLER  ARCH 220 

From  Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  1.  pi.  3. 

TAK-I  BOSTAN,  OR  THE  ARCHED  GARDEN 220 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

VIEW  OF  THE  LARGER  ARCH .'    222 

From  a  photograph. 

BAS-RELIEFS  OF  KHOSRU  II 222 

From  a  photograph. 

KERMANSHAH  :  THE  PARADE-GROUND  AND  THE  GOVERNOR'S  PALACE    231 
From  a  photograph. 

A  PERSIAN  SHEPHERD  (near  Sahnah) 234 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

A  TYPICAL  CARAVANSARAI 234 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  RUINED  TEMPLE  AT  KANGAVAR 243 

From  Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  1.  pi.  21. 

RUINS  OF  THE  TEMPLE  AT  KANGAVAR 243 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

PLOWING  WITH  Cows 246 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

PERSIAN  SHOVELS 246 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 


XX  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

THE  ANCIENT  FIRE-TEMPLE  NEAR  ISFAHAN 254 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

PART  OF  THE  TEMPLE-PRECINCT  ADJOINING  THE  SHRINE  OF  FIRE    254 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

FLANDIN'S  SKETCH  OF  THE  HILL  OF  THE  ISFAHAN  FIRE-TEMPLE   .    263 
From  Coste,  Monuments  Modernes  de  la  Perse,  pi.  53. 

ISFAHAN  AND  THE  BRIDGE  OF  ALI  VERDI  KHAN      ....    263 
From  a  photograph. 

MASJID-I  SHAH,  THE  KING'S  MOSQUE .    266 

From  a  photograph  by  Mr.  A.  O.  Wood. 

PALACE  OF  THE  ZIL  AS-SULTAN,  PRINCE  GOVERNOR  OF  ISFAHAN  .    266 
From  a  photograph  by  Mr.  A.  O.  Wood. 

MADRASAH  OF  SHAH  HUSEIN,  FROM  THE  CHAHAR  BAGH         .        .    268 
From  a  photograph  by  Mr.  A.  O.  Wood. 

WITHIN  THE  COURT  OF  THE  MADRASAH 268 

From  a  photograph  by  Mr.  A.  O.  Wood. 

THE  MEIDAN  OF  ISFAHAN 270 

From  a  photograph  by  Tooni  Johannes,  of  Isfahan. 

PAVILION  OF  MIRRORS 270 

From  Dieulafoy,  L'Art  Antique  de  la  Perse,  3.  pi.  6. 

THE  TOMB  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 279 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  PLATFORM  OVERLOOKING  PASARGAD.E 279 

From  Dieulafoy,  L'Art  Antique  de  la  Perse,  1.  pi.  3. 

A  FIRE-TEMPLE  OR  A  TOMB  ? 280 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

SCULPTURE  OF  CYRUS 280 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

I,  CYRUS,  THE  KING,  THE  ACH^EMENIAN  (Inscribed  column  of  Cyrus)     282 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  TOMB  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 291 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

TOMBS    OF    THE   ACH^EMENIAN    KlNGS    AT   NAKSH-I   RUSTAM         .  .      295 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

ENTRANCE  TO  THE  TOMB  OF  DARIUS 298 

From  a  photograph. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xxi 

PACK 

INTERIOR  or  THE  TOMB  OF  DARIUS 298 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

FIRST  SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM    ....    300 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

FOURTH  SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM        .        .        .    300 
From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

SIXTH  AND  SEVENTH  SASANIAN  SCULPTURES  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM     302 
From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

STONE  EDIFICE  NEAR  THE  TOMBS  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM   .        .        .    302 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

ROCK-HEWN  FIRE-ALTARS  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM         ....    305 
From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

FIRST  TOMB  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM 305 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

RUINS  OF  STAKHRA .        .    307 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

TAKHT-I  TAUS,  OR  RUSTAM'S  THRONE        .        .        .        .        .        .    307 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  IN  THE  REAR  OF  THE  RECESS  AT  NAKSH-I 

RAJAB 309 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  AT  THE  LEFT  OF   THE   RECESS  AT  NAKSH-I 

RAJAB 309 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

THE  GRAND  STAIRCASE  AT  PERSEPOLIS 311 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

CURZON'S  PLAN  OF  PERSEPOLIS 312 

From  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  150. 

PERSEPOLIS      . 314 

From  a  photograph. 

SUBJECT  NATIONS  BRINGING  TRIBUTE  TO  XERXES    ....    314 
From  a  photograph. 

THE  PLATFORM  OF  PERSEPOLIS 316 

From  Dieulafoy,  L' 'Art  Antique  de  la  Perse,  2.  pi.  4. 

THE  TOMBS  BACK  OF  THE  PLATFORM  OF  PERSEPOLIS       .        .        .    318 
From  photographs  by  Mr.  A.  O.  Wood. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

THE  PALACE  OF  DARIUS 320 

From  a  photograph  by  Mr.  A.  O.  Wood. 

A  PORTAL  AND  THE  HALL  OF  A  HUNDRED  COLUMNS        .        .        .    320 
From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

KING  DARIUS  ON  HIS  THRONE 323 

From  a  photograph. 

BRIDGE  LEADING  INTO  SHIRAZ 323 

From  a  photograph  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Stileman. 

THE  NEW  MOSQUE  (MASJID-I  No)  AT  SHIRAZ 325 

From  a  photograph. 

OVERLOOKING  SHIRAZ 325 

From  a  photograph. 

VIEW  OF  SHIRAZ  FROM  THE  ALLAHU  AKBAR  GATE  ....    327 
From  a  photograph. 

CULTIVATED  FIELDS  AROUND  SHIRAZ 330 

From  a  photograph. 

GARDENS  AROUND  SHIRAZ 330 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  TOMB  OF  HAFIZ 332 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

THE  TOMB  OF  SAADI 334 

From  a  photograph  by  Antoin  Sevruguin. 

FROM  DEH-BID  TO  KHAN-I  KHORAH 341 

From  a  photograph. 

OPIUM-SMOKERS 341 

Frorfi  a  photograph. 

LETTER  OF  CONVOY  FROM  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  SHIRAZ      .        .        .     344 
Photographed  from  the  original. 

VIEW  OF  YEZD 348 

From  a  photograph  by  llev.  C.  H.  Stileman. 

A  STREET  IN  YEZD,  SHOWING  A  WIND-TOWER 348 

From  a  photograph  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Stileman. 

SCENE  IN  YEZD 355 

From  a  photograph  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Stileman. 

THE  RESERVOIR  IN  THE  MEIDAN  AT  YEZD 355 

From  a  photograph  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Stileman. 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xxiii 

PAGE 

THE  ZOROASTRIAN  ANJUMAN  AT  YEZD 360 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

A  WIND-TOWER  AT  YEZD 366 

From  a  photograph  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Stileman. 

Two  ZOROASTRIAN  PRIESTS  AT  YEZD 366 

After  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

SPRAYS  OF  THE  BARSOM  PLANT 371 

From  a  drawing  by  Mr.  Percy  Bodenstab- 

YEZD  TYPES 374 

From  a  photograph. 

SCHOOLBOYS  AT  YEZD,  MOSTLY  ZOROASTRIANS   .        .        .        .        .     374 

From  a  photograph. 

A  ZOROASTRIAN  CONVERT  TO  ISLAM 374 

From  a  photograph. 

Two  PICTURES  OF  KHODABAKHSH  BAHRAM  RAIS      .        .        .        .     382 

From  photographs. 

PARSI  WOMEN  AND  GIRLS 382 

From  a  photograph. 

ZOROASTRIANS  OF  KERMAN 387 

From  Stileman,  The  Kingdom  of  the  Shah,  p.  71. 

A  BRANCH  OF  THE  SACRED  HOM  PLANT 387 

From  a  photograph. 

A  GABAR  FAMILY 398 

From  a  photograph. 

A  ZOROASTRIAN  MERCHANT 398 

From  a  photograph. 

SHOEING  A  DONKEY 403 

Courtesy  of  the  '  Burr  Mclntosh  Magazine.' 

THE  ZOROASTRIAN  DAKHMAH  AT  REI  NEAR  TEHERAN     .        .        .     403 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  LITTLE  SHAGIRD 407 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

MY  DONKEY-CARAVAN  IN  THE  DESERT  NEAR  KHALATABAD     .        .    407 
From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

DOMED  ROOFS  OF  KASHAN 410 

From  a  photograph. 


XXIV  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

KASHAN .    410 

From  a  photograph. 

KUM 412 

From  a  photograph. 

PERSIAN  GLEANERS 412 

From  Stileman,  The  Kingdom  of  the  Shah,  p.  11. 

A  PERSIAN  VENDER  OP  SHERBET 414 

From  a  photograph. 

SHRINE  OF  FATIMA  AT  KUM 414 

From  a  photograph. 

A  VIEW  OF  TEHERAN 417 

Courtesy  of  the  'Burr  Mclntosh  Magazine.' 

A  PERSIAN  GARDEN 417 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  MEIDAN-I  TOP  KHANAH  AT  TEHERAN 419 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  SOUTHWEST  GATE  OF  THE  MEIDAN  AT  TEHERAN     .        .        .    421 
From  a  print. 

THE  AMERICAN  LEGATION  AT  TEHERAN 421 

From  a  photograph. 

A  GRADUATING   CLASS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  FOR  BOYS  AT 

TEHERAN 423 

From  a  photograph. 

A  PERSIAN  FAMILY 423 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  PARSI  SCHOOL  AT  TEHERAN 424 

From  a  photograph. 

ZOROASTRIAN    SCHOOLBOYS    AT    TfiHKRAN 424 

From  a  photograph. 

ARBAB  JAMSHID  AND  HIS  STAFF 426 

From  a  photograph. 

REI,  THE  ANCIENT  RAGHA 428 

From  a  photograph. 

MOSQUE  OF  SHAH  ABDUL  AZIM,  NEAR  REI 430 

From  a  photograph. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  XXV 

PAGE 

CRUMBLING  WALLS  OF  REI 430 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

MOUNT  DAMAVAND 432 

From  a  photograph. 

KER  PORTER'S  PLAN  OF  REI 435 

From  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  1.  360. 

TOWER  ON  A  HILL  NEAR  REI 435 

From  a  photograph. 

TOWER    AMONG    THE    RUINS    OF    Rfil,    AFTER    RESTORATION  .  .      437 

From  a  photograph. 

TOWER    AMONG    THE    RUINS    OF    REI,    BEFORE    RESTORATION  .  .      437 

From  a  photograph. 

SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  NOW  DESTROYED 439 

From  the  drawing  of  Ouseley,  Travels,  3.  pi.  65. 

MODERN  BAS-RELIEF  REPLACING  THE  SCULPTURE  SHOWN  ABOVE     .     439 
From  Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Moderne,  pi.  30. 

SCULPTURED  PANEL  OF  FATH  ALI  SHAH,  ABOVE  THE  'SPRING  OF 

ALI' 440 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

THE  ZOROASTRIAN  TOWER  OF  SILENCE  AT  REI         ....    440 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  KAZVIN  GATE,  TEHERAN 442 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  MEIDAN-I  MASHK,  DRILL  SQUARE,  AT  TEHERAN       .        .        .     442 
From  a  photograph. 

THE  MAHMAN-KHANAH  AT  KAZVIN 444 

From  a  photograph. 

THE  RIVER  KARAJ 444 

From  a  photograph  by  the  author. 

PEICHANAR,  BETWEEN  KAZVIN  AND  RESHT 446 

From  a  photograph. 

ENZALI ' 446 

From  a  photograph. 


LIST   OF  WORKS   OF   REFERENCE 

This  list  includes  only  the  works  most  often  referred  to.    Detailed   information 
concerning  other  books  and  papers  is  given  in  the  footnotes. 

Adams,  Isaac.     Persia  by  a  Persian.     (Grand  Rapids,  Michigan),  1900. 
Barbaro,   Josafa.     Travels  to   Tana  and    Persia   by  Josafa    Barbaro  and 

Ambrogio  Contarini,  tr.  William  Thomas.     London,  1873.     (Hakluyt 

Society  publications,  vol.  49/) 
Barbier  de  Meynard.     See  Mas'udi  and  Yakut. 
Bartholomae,    Christian,      Altiranisches    Worterbuch.      Strassburg,    1905. 

[Air.  Wb.] 
Bell,  John.     Travels  in  Asia.    In  Pinkerton,  General  Collection  of  Voyages 

and  Travels,  7.  273-516,  London,  Igll. 

Benjamin,  S.  G.  W.     Persia  and  the  Persians.     Boston,  (1886). 
Bharucha,  Sheriarji  Dadabhai.     A  Brief  Sketch  of  the  Zoroastrian  Religion 

and  Customs.     Bombay,  1893. 
Bishop,  Mrs.    (Isabella  L.  Bird).    Joirrneys  in  Persia  and  Kurdistan.    2  vols. 

New  York,  1891. 

Browne,  Edward  G.     A  Year  Amongst  the  Persians.     London,  1893. 
Browne,  Edward  G.     A  Literary  History  of  Persia  from  the  Earliest  Times 

until  Firdawsi.     New  York,  1902. 
Brugsch,  Heinrich.     Im  Lande  der  Sonne  :  Wanderungen  in  Persien.    2d  ed. 

Berlin,  1886. 
Chardin,  Sir  John.     Voyages  en  Perse  et  autres  lieux  de  1' Orient.     4  vols. 

Amsterdam,  1735. 
Clavijo,  Ruy  Gonzalez  de.     Narrative  of  the  Embassy  to  the  Court  of  Timour 

at    Samarcand    A.D.    1403-6,   tr.    C.    R.   Markham.      London,    1859. 

(Hakluyt  Society  publications,  vol.  26.) 
Contarini,  Ambrogio.     Travels  to  Tana  and  Persia  by  Josafa  Barbaro  and 

Ambrogio   Contarini,  tr.  William  Thomas.     London,  1873.     (Hakluyt 

Society  publications,  vol.  49.) 
Ctesias.     The  Fragments  of  the  Persika  of  Ktesias,  ed.   John  Gilmore. 

London,  1888. 

Curzon,  George  N.     Persia  and  the  Persian  Question.    2  vols.    London,  1892. 
Darmesteter,  James.     Le  Zend-Avesta,  traduction  nouvelle.     3  vols.     Paris, 

1892-3.     (  Annales  du  Muse'e  Guimet,  vols.  21,  22,  24.)     [Le  ZA.] 

xxvi 


LIST    OF    WORKS    OF    REFERENCE  xxvii 

De  Goeje,  M.  J.  Bibliotheca  Geographorum  Arabicorum.  8  vols.  Leiden, 
1870-94. 

della  Valle,  Pietro.  Viaggi  di  Pietro  della  Valle  il  Pellegrino.  2  vols. 
Brighton,  1843. 

della  Valle,  Pietro.  Extracts  from  the  Travels  of  Pietro  della  Valle  in 
Persia.  In  Pinkerton,  General  Collection  of  Voyages  and  Travels,  9. 
1-137,  London,  1811. 

Dieulafoy,  Marcel  A.     L'Art  Antique  de  la  Perse.     5  vols.     Paris,  1884-5. 
Ethe",  Hermann.     Neupersische   Litteratur.     In   Grundriss  der   Iranischen 

Philologie,  2.  212-368,  Strassburg,  1896-1904. 
Firdausi.     Firdusii   Liber  Regum  qui  inscribitur  Shah  Name,   ed.  J.  A. 

Vullers  (et  S.  Landauer).     3  vols.     Leiden,  1877-84. 
Firdausi.    Le  Livre  des  Rois,  traduit  et  commente  par  Jules  Mohl.    7  vols. 

Paris,  1876-8. 
Firdausi.    H  Libro  dei  Re,  poema  epico,  recato  dal  Persiano  in  versi  Ita- 

liani  da  Italo  Pizzi.     8  vols.     Turin,  1886-8. 
Flandin,  E.  N.,  and  Coste,  X.  P.    Voyage  en  Perse.     8  vols.     Paris,  (1843-54). 

(Relation  du  Voyage,  2  vols.;  Perse  Ancienne,  texte,  1  vol.,  planches, 

4  vols. ;  Perse  Moderne,  1  vol.) 

Gordon,  Sir  Thomas  Edward.     Persia  Revisited  (1895).     New  York,  1896. 
Gottheil,  R.  J.  H.     References  to  Zoro'aster  in  Syriac  and  Arabic  Literature. 

In  Classical  Studies  in  Honour  of  Henry  Drisler,  pp.  24-51,  New  York, 

1894. 

Haug,  Martin.  Essays  04  the  Sacred  Language,  Writings,  and  Religion  of 
the  Parsis.  3d  ed.,  edited  and  enlarged  by  E.  W.  West.  London, 
1884. 

Horn,  Paul.  Geschichte  Irans  in  Islamitischer  Zeit.  In  Grundriss  der 
Iranischen  Philologie,  2.  551-604,  Strassburg,  1896-1904. 

Ibn  Haukal.  The  Oriental  Geography  of  Ebn  Haukal,  tr.  Sir  William 
Ouseley.  London,  1800. 

Jackson,  A.  V.  Williams.  Zoroaster,  the  Prophet  of  Ancient  Iran.  New 
York,  1899. 

Justi,  Ferdinand.  Geschichte  Irans  von  den  Altesten  Zeiten  bis  zum  Aus- 
gang  der  Sasaniden.  In  Gruudriss  der  Iranischen  Philologie,  2.  395- 
550,  Strassburg,  1896-1904. 

Justi,  Ferdinand.  Empire  of  the  Persians.  In  History  of  All  Nations, 
vol.  2,  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  1905. 

Justi,  Ferdinand.     Iranisches  Namenbuch.     Marburg,  1895. 

Karaka,  Dosabhai  Framji.     History  of  the  Parsis.     2  vols.     London,  1884. 

Karnamak-i  Artakhshlr-i  Papakan.  The  original  Pahlavi  Text,  edited  (and 
translated)  by  Darab  Dastur  Peshotan  Sanjana.  Bombay,  1896. 


xxviii  LIST    OF    WORKS    OF    REFERENCE 

Ker  Porter,   Sir  Robert.     Travels  in   Georgia,   Persia,   Armenia,  Ancient 

Babylonia,  etc.     2  vols.     London,  1821. 

Knanishu,  Joseph.  About  Persia  and  its  People.  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  1899. 
Koran.  The  Koran,  tr.  George  Sale.  London,  no  date.  (Chandos  Classics.) 
Landor,  A.  Henry  Savage.  Across  Coveted  Lands.  2  vols.  New  York,  1903. 
Lynch,  H.  F.  B.  Armenia,  Travels  and  Studies.  2  vols.  New  York,  1901. 
Malcolm,  Napier.  Five  Years  in  a  Persian  Town.  New  York,  1905.  ' 
Marquart,  J.  Eransahr  nach  der  Geographic  des  Ps.  Moses  Xorenac'i. 

Berlin,  1901.     (Abh.  d.  Kgl.   Ges.  d.  Wiss.  zu  Gottingen,  Phil.-Hist. 

Klasse,  new  series,  vol.  3,  no.  2.) 
Mas'udi,  al-.     Ma9oudi,  Les  Prairies  d'Or,  ed.  et  tr.  C.  Barbier  de  Meynard. 

9  vols.     Paris,  1861-77. 
Morgan,  J.  de.     Mission   Scientifique   en   Perse.      Vol.   2,  Etudes  geogra- 

phiques,  Paris,  1895.    Vol.  4,  Recherches  archeologiques,  Paris,  1896. 
Noldeke,  Theodor.    See  Tabari. 
Odorico  da  Pordenone.     Les  Voyages  en  Asie  du  bienheureux  frere  Odoric  de 

Pordenone,    public  par    Henri   Cordier.      Paris,    1891.      (Recueil  de 

Voyages,  vol.  10.) 

Ouseley,  Sir  William.  Travels  in  Various  Countries  of  the  East,  more  par- 
ticularly Persia.  3  vols.  London,  1819-23. 

Perkins,  Justin.  A  Residence  of  Eight  Years  in  Persia.  Andover,  Mass., 
1843. 

Perrot,  G.,  and  Chipiez,  C.  Histoire  de  1'Art  dans  1'Antiquite.  Vol.  5,  Perse, 
etc.,  Paris,  1890. 

Pietro  della  Valle.     See  della  Valle. 

Polo,  Marco.  The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo  the  Venetian  concerning  the 
Kingdoms  and  Marvels  of  the  East,  tr.  and  ed.  Sir  Henry  Yule.  3d  ed., 
revised  by  Henri  Cordier.  2  vols.  London,  1903. 

Rawlinson,  George.     The  Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the  Ancient  Eastern 

World.    4  vols.     London,  1862-7. 

Rawlinson,  George.     The  Sixth  Great  Oriental  Monarchy.     London,  1873. 
Rawlinson,  George.     The  Seventh  Great  Oriental  Monarchy.     London,  1876. 
Rosenberg,  Fr6de"ric.     Le  Livre   de   Zoroastre   (Zaratusht  Nama)   de  Zar- 

tusht-i  Bahram  ben  Pajdu.     St.  Petersburg,  1904. 
Sadik  Isfahanl.     The  Geographical  Works  of  Sadik  Isfahani,  tr.  by  J.  C. 

from  original   Persian  Mas.  in  the  collection  of  Sir  William  Ouseley, 

the  editor.     London,  1832. 
Schwarz,  Paul.     Iran  im  Mittelalter  nach  den  Arabischen  Geographen,  1. 

Leipzig,  1896. 

Shah  Namah.     See  Firdausl. 


LIST    OF    WORKS    OF    REFERENCE  xxix 

Shatroiha-i    Airan.     In    Pahlavi    Texts,    1,    edited    by    Jamaspji    Dastur 
Minocheherji  Jamasp  Asana,  pp.  18-24,  Bombay,  1897. 

Shatroiha-i  Airan.     In  Aiyadgar-i-Zariran,  Shatroiha-i-Airan,  etc.,  translated 

with  notes  by  Jivanji  Jamshedji  Modi,  pp.  50-180,  Bombay,  1899. 
Spiegel,  Friedrich.     Eranische  Alterthumskunde.     3  vols.     Leipzig,  1871-8. 
Spiegel,  Friedrich.      Die   Altpersischen   Keilinschriften.      2d  ed.     Leipzig, 

1881. 

Stolze,  F.,  and  Andreas,  F.  C.     Persepolis.    2  vols.    Berlin,  1882. 
Sykes,  Percy  M.     Ten  Thousand  Miles  in  Persia,  or  Eight  Years  in  Iran. 

New  York,  1902. 
Tabari,  al-.    Geschichte  der  Perser  und  Araber  zur  Zeit  der  Sasaniden,  aus 

der  Arabischen  Chronik  des  Tabari,  von  Theodor   Nb'ldeke.     Leiden, 

1879. 
Tavernier,  Jean  Baptiste.     Six  Travels  through  Turkey  and  Persia  to  the 

Indies,  tr.  J.  Philips.     London,  1684. 
Texier,  C.  F.  M.     Description  de  PArmenie,  la  Perse,  et  la  Mesopotamie. 

2  vols.     Paris,  1842-52. 
Tha'alibi,  al- .     Histoire  des  Rois  des  Perses.    Texte  Arabe  public'  et  traduit 

par  H.  Zotenberg.     Paris,  1900. 
Tomaschek,  Wilhelm.     Zur  Historischen  Topographic  von  Persien.     In  Sb. 

d.    Phil.-Hist.   Classe  d.  kais.  Akad.  d.  Wiss.  zu  Wien,  102  (1883), 

pp.  145-231. 
Weeks,  Edwin  Lord.     From  the  Black  Sea  through  Persia  and  India.     New 

York,  1896. 
Weissbach,   F.    H.,    and    Bang,   W.      Die    Altpersischen    Keilinschriften. 

1.  Lieferung.     Leipzig,  1893. 

Weissbach,  F.  H.     Die  Achamenideninschriften  Zweiter  Art.    Leipzig,  1890. 
West,  E.  W.     Pahlavi  Literature.     In  Grundriss  der  Iranischen  Philologie, 

2.  75-129,  Strassburg,  1896-1904. 

West,  E.  W.     Pahlavi  Texts.     5  vols.     Oxford,  1880-97.     (Sacked  Books 

of  the  East,  vols.  5,  18,  24,  37,  47.) 
Wilson,  Charles.     Handbook  for  Travellers  in  Asia  Minor,  Transcaucasia, 

Persia,  etc.     London,  1895. 

Wilson,  S.  G.     Persian  Life  and  Customs.     New  York,  1895. 
Yakut.     Geographisches  Worterbuch,  ed.  Wiistenfeld.     Leipzig,  1866. 
Yakut.     Dictionnaire   geographique,  historique,  et   litteraire  de   la  Perse, 

extrait  du  Mddjem  el-Bouldan  de  Yaqout,  par  C.  Barbier  de  Meynard. 

Paris,  1861. 
Zotenberg,  H.     See  Tha'alibi. 


ABBREVIATIONS 

Abh.  =  Abhandlung. 

A.H.  '    =  (Anno  Hegirae),  Mohammedan  era. 

AJP.  =  American  Journal  of  Philology. 

Artax.  Pers.  =  inscriptions  of  Artaxerxes  at  Persepolis. 

Av.  =  Avestan. 

Bd.  =  Bundahishn. 

Bh.  =  Behistan  inscription  of  Darius. 

BYt.  =  Pahlavi  Bahman  Yasht. 

c.  =  (circa),  about. 

d.  =  died. 

Dar.  Alv.       =  inscription  of  Darius  on  Mt.  Alvand  (Elvend),near  Hamadan. 

Dar.  Pers.      =  inscriptions  of  Darius  at  Persepolis. 

ed.  =  edition  of,  edited  by. 

Gk.  =  Greek. 

ibid.  =  (ibidem),  in  the  same  work. 

id.  =  (idem),  the  same  author. 

IF.  =  Indogermanische  Forschungen. 

JAOS.  =  Journal  of  the  American  Oriental  Society. 

JRAS.  =  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society. 

JRGS.  =  Journal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society. 

KZ.  =  Kuhn's  Zeitschrift  fur  Vergleichende  Sprachforschung. 

I.e.  =  (loco  citato),  at  the  place  previously  cited. 

MKh.  =  Dlna-I  Mamog-I  Khirad. 

Mod.  Pers.     =  Modern  Persian. 

Nir.  =  Nirangistan. 

NR.  =  inscriptions  of  Darius  at  Naksh-i  Rustam. 

Ny.  =  Nyaish. 

OP.  =  Old  Persian. 

op.  cit.  =  (opus  citatum),  the  work  previously  cited. 

Pers.  =  Persian. 

Phi.  =  Pahlavi. 

pi.  =  plate. 


ABBREVIATIONS  XXxi 

Sb.  =  Sitzungsberichte. 

SEE.  =  Sacred  Books  of  the  East, 

seq.  =  (sequentia) ,  and  the  following. 

Sir.  =  Sirozah. 

s.v.  =  (sub  verl)o)y  under  the  word, 

r.  =  translation  of,  translated  by. 

Vd.  =  Vendldad. 

v.l.  =  (varia  lectio),  variant  reading. 

Vsp.  =  Visperad. 

WZKM.  =  Wiener  Zeitschrift  fur  die  Kunde  des  Morgenlandes. 

Xerx.  Pers.  =  inscriptions  of  Xerxes  at  Persepolis. 

Ys.  =  Yasna. 

Yt.  =  Yasht. 

ZDMG.  =  Zeitschrift  der  Deutschen  Morgenlandischen  Gesellschaft. 

Zsp.  =  Zatsparam. 

Zt.  =  Zeitschrift. 

Zt.  f.  Assyr.  =  Zeitschrift  fur  Assyriologie. 


OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


PERSIA  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

CHAPTER   I 

EN   ROUTE  FOR    THE   LAND   OF    THE    LION    AND  THE   SUN 

'I  am  bound 
To  Persia,  and  want  guilders  for  my  voyage.' 

—  SHAKSPERE,  A  Comedy  of  Errors,  4.  1.  3. 

IT  was  at  the  end  of  January,  1903,  that  I  received  leave 
of  absence  from  Columbia  University  for  half  a  year  to  enable 
me  to  visit  the  Orient  again.  The  previous  voyage  had  been 
to  India  and  Ceylon,  two  years  before  ;  my  present  goal  was 
Persia  and  Central  Asia.  The  purpose  of  my  journey  was 
antiquarian  study  and  scholarly  research,  especially  with 
regard  to  Zoroaster  and  the  ancient  faith  of  the  Magi,  for 
I  had  come  early  under  the  spell  of  those  Wise  Men  from 
the  East  and  had  long  felt  the  charm  drawing  me  toward  the 
Province  of  the  Sun ;  but  I  hoped  also  to  contribute  something 
to  our  knowledge  of  Persia's  present,  as  well  as  past,  and  to 
a  better  understanding  of  the  relations  existing  between  them. 

My  plan  was  to  traverse  as  much  of  the  territory  known 
to  Zoroaster  as  I  could,  including  Transcaspia  and  Turkistan, 
and  to  visit  the  places  most  celebrated  in  the  history  of  Persia. 
The  route  which  I  marked  in  advance  on  the  map,  and  was 
able  to  accomplish,  carried  me  from  the  Caucasus  on  the  north 
nearly  to  the  Persian  Gulf  on  the  south,  thence  to  Yezd  in 
the  central  desert  and  back  northward  to  Teheran  and  the 
Caspian  Sea.  Crossing  this,  I  continued  the  journey  into  the 
heart  of  Asia,  to  Merv,  Bokhara,  and  Samarkand. 


2     EN  ROUTE  FOR   THE  LAND    OF   THE  LION  AND    THE  SUN 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  New  York  to  the  Caspian  —  more  than 
seven  thousand  miles  —  but  this  distance  had  first  to  be  covered 
before  the  real  journey  began.  The  first  four  thousand  miles  of 
the  trip  by  steamer  and  rail  were  uneventful.  At  Berlin  I  stayed 
a  few  days  to  see  my  teacher,  Professor  Karl  F.  Geldner,  whose 
writings  first  inspired  me  with  an  interest  in  Persia,  and  to 
make  some  visits  among  old  friends,  as  well  as  calls  upon 
officials,  before  starting  on  my  forty-eight-hour  journey  to  St. 
Petersburg,  where  I  found  my  friend  and  former  pupil  Mr. 
Montgomery  Schuyler,  Jr.,  then  a  secretary  at  the  American 
Embassy.  I  had  brought  with  me  official  letters  of  recom- 
mendation from  Washington  to  St.  Petersburg,  as  well  as  to 
Teheran  and  Tabriz,  which  proved  an  open  sesame  to  the 
Ministers  of  State,  and  I  shall  not  forget  the  kindness  of 
the  various  official  representatives,  Russian  and  American,  at 
the  capital  of  the  Tsar.  Besides  this  I  met  with  courtesies 
from  scholar  friends  both  there  and  at  Moscow ;  they  had  not 
only  been  in  Persia,  but  were  well  acquainted  with  Transcaspia 
and  Turkistan  and  could  give  valuable  suggestions  for  the 
journey. 

At  Moscow,  rich  in  historic  memories,  I  had  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  inspect  the  interesting  Verestchagin  collection 
of  paintings  in  the  Tretiakoff  Gallery.  This  collection  is 
particularly  rich  in  paintings  which  illustrate  Central  Asian 
life,  and  they  gave  me  a  glimpse  in  advance  of  the  scenes 
which  I  should  see  at  Merv,  Bokhara,  and  Samarkand.  After 
a  day's  stay  I  took  the  weekly  train  de  luxe  bound  southward 
toward  the  Caucasus,  the  Caspian,  and  the  highway  to  Persia. 

For  three  full  days  the  train  rolled  on  through  the  steppe- 
country,  level,  and  uninteresting  when  covered  with  snow. 
The  stops  were  infrequent  but  long,  and  I  welcomed  each  time 
the  third  of  the  set  of  bell  signals  which  the  Russian  railways 
employ  at  their  stations,  because  it  was  a  sign  for  the  journey 
to  be  resumed  toward  the  goal  I  had  in  view. 

At  Vladikavkas,  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  —  it  was 


THROUGH  RUSSIA    TO    THE  CASPIAN  3 

Thursday,  I  remember  —  I  caught  my  first  sight  of  the  giant 
barrier  of  the  Caucasus  towering  against  a  cloudy  sky  and 
frowning  down  on  the  white  plain  beneath.  Its  beetling 
cliffs  were  bare  of  snow  in  places,  and  here  and  there  a  deep 
gorge  or  ravine  looked  like  the  scar  of  some  Titan  wound  upon 
its  sullen  face.  The  lonely  scene  grew  in  impressive  grandeur 
as  the  day  wore  on.  The  old  myth  of  Prometheus  rose  before 
my  imagination.  Far  in  the  distance  I  could  picture  the 
desolate  vulture-peak  where  the  demigod  lay  chained  in  fetters 
because  he  had  stolen  fire  from  heaven  as  a  boon  for  men. 
Well  might  the  suffering  benefactor  of  mankind  have  longed 
for  the  sun  to  rise  and  'dispel  the  hoar  frost  at  dawn,'  or, 
when  scorched  by  the  heat  and  torn  by  the  ravening  bird, 
have  yearned  for  *  starry-kirtled  night  to  hide  day's  sheen.'1 
I  could  hear  faint  echoes  of  the  dialogue  with  lo  and  mutter- 
ings  of  the  Titan's  curse  against  the  wrath  of  Zeus.  Little  did 
I  dream  when  I  read  Prometheus  in  college  days  that  I  should 
ever  see  the  place  where  ^Eschylus  had  laid  his  tragic  scene. 

The  streams  rushing  from  the  mountains  and  the  flocks  of 
sheep  huddled  together  in  the  open  places  of  the  snow  re- 
called to  my  mind  the  story  of  Colchis  and  the  Golden  Fleece. 
I  learned  en  route  that  tradition  tells  how  the  shepherds  of 
by-gone  days  were  wont  to  find  grains  of  gold  clinging  to  the 
new-shorn  fleece  when  they  lifted  it  from  the  stream  where  it 
was  washed,  because  the  mountain  torrent  had  left  a  golden 
deposit  amid  the  woolly  strands.  The  legend  of  the  rich  reward 
seems  not  to  be  quite  forgotten. 

For  a  moment,  Greek  mythology,  classic  reminiscences,  and 
thoughts  of  college  days  made  me  forget  that  the  land  of 
my  quest  was  Iran,  not  Hellas,  and  that  I  was  seemingly 
deserting  the  Orient  for  Greece.  I  had  to  recall  myself  once 
more  to  the  East. 

All  day  the  railway  skirted  the  great  plain  beneath  the 
Caucasus,  which  was  never  more  than  twenty  miles  distant. 
1  JEschylus,  Prometheus  Bound,  20  seq. 


4   EN  ROUTE  FOR  THE  LAND  OF  THE  LION  AND  THE  SUN 

The  scenery  at  this  time  of  the  year  was  barren  and  dreary. 
Hardly  a  trace  of  vegetation  was  visible  except  where  the  wind 
had  blown  a  space  bare  in  the  snow  and  revealed  a  possible 
promise  of  verdure  when  spring  should  come.  Flocks  of  sheep 
and  goats  were  to  be  seen  wherever  a  bit  of  fodder  could  be 
found,  and  scant  herds  of  rugged  cattle  lounged  disconsolately 
about. 

I  was  interested  in  watching  the  changes  in  the  types  of  the 
people  as  the  journey  progressed.  Some  of  the  natives  repre- 
sented to  perfection  the  type  of  the  Scythian  shepherd  in 
antiquity ;  they  wore  huge  sheepskin  coats  and  had  their  feet 
wrapped  in  coarse  bagging  which  was  lashed  about  the  legs 
with  thongs  ;  their  heads  were  covered  with  a  cap  of  heavy 
fur  which  was  almost  indistinguishable  from  the  shock  of  hair 
and  heavy  beard.  A  few  looked  a  little  more  modern  because 
of  the  long  rifle  with  which  they  stood  guard  over  their  flocks. 
Most  of  them  had  the  shambling  gait  of  the  East  and  the  Ori- 
ental fashion  of  squatting,  which  was  particularly  noticeable 
around  the  railway  stations.  All  of  them  had  dark  complex- 
ions which  looked  weather-beaten  and  coarse.  The  Iranian 
type  of  features  grew  more  and  more  pronounced  as  the  Cas- 
pian was  approached,  and  I  could  recognize  distinct  likenesses 
to  the  Pathans  and  Waziris,  those  Afghan  tribesmen  of  Iranian 
blood,  whom  I  had  seen  in  the  Khaiber  Pass  two  years  before. 
It  is  clear  that  Iran  begins  ethnologically  with  the  Caucasus 
and  the  Caspian,  the  historic  borderland  between  Europe  and 
Asia,  although  the  Russian  frontier  line  to-day  has  encroached 
a  hundred  or  two  miles  over  the  old  Persian  border. 

Darkness  had  fallen  when  the  train  arrived  at  Petrorvsk,  but 
through  the  gloom  I  could  catch  sight  of  the  white  waves  of 
the  Caspian  lashed  into  foam  by  the  wintry  winds.  Before 
daylight  the  next  morning,  Friday,  March  6,  I  had  reached 
Baku.  Instead  of  proceeding  thence  across  the  Caspian  to 
Teheran,  which  would  have  been  more  convenient  in  many 
ways,  I  decided  to  continue  the  journey  to  Tiflis  in  order  to 


THE  OLD  CITADEL  OF  TIFLIS 


FROM  BAKU   TO   TIFLIS  5 

enter  Persia  through  Azarbaijan,  the  region  which  gave  birth 
to  Zoroaster,  as  I  believe. 

The  journey  from  Baku  to  Tiflis  by  rail  occupies  about  four- 
teen hours.  A  great  part  of  the  route  traverses  the  southern 
side  of  the  Caucasus  range  along  whose  northern  base  we 
coasted  the  day  before.  The  scenery  is  less  magnificent,  but 
the  plain  is  rich,  and  the  mountain  range  on  the  south  running 
parallel  with  its  sister  chain  on  the  north,  from  the  Caspian  to 
the  Black  Sea,  looks  higher  because  of  its  proximity  to  the 
railway.  The  cattle  visible  on  the  plain  were  of  the  same 
general  character  as  the  day  before,  but  troop  after  troop  of 
camels  showed  that  the  East  had  been  reached.  Some  of  these 
had  rough  blankets  thrown  over  their  backs  to  protect  them 
from  the  rigors  of  the  weather,  as  the  climate  was  a  contrast  to 
that  of  the  desert  where  they  had  been  bred.  The  Persian 
buffalo  could  be  seen  here  and  there,  and  all  were  busily  en- 
gaged in  nibbling  the  few  traces  of  prospective  grass  that 
could  be  found  in  the  plain. 

There  is  little  of  interest  to  note  on  the  way  from  Baku  to 
Tiflis,  but  about  halfway  between  the  two  cities  the  railroad 
passes  the  town  of  Elizabetpol,  which  was  originally  the  Per- 
sian town  of  Ganjah,  its  name  having  been  changed  when  the 
Russians  took  possession  of  the  place  in  1804.  Its  mosque 
near  the  bazaar  is  said  to  have  been  erected  by  the  Persian 
monarch  Shah  Abbas  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  numer- 
ous ancient  remains  in  the  neighborhood  show  the  antiquity  of 
the  city.  Its  chief  claim  upon  our  interest  perhaps  is  the  fact 
that  Ganjah  was  the  home  of  the  Persian  poet  Nizami,  who  died 
there  about  the  year  A.D.  1203.  This  romantic  minstrel  sang 
of  the  love  of  Khosru  Parviz  for  the  Armenian  princess  Shirin 
and  the  tragic  passion  of  her  artist  lover  Farhad,  besides  tell- 
ing the  legendary  adventures  of  Alexander  in  epic  strain  and 
recounting  old  tales  with  imaginative  grace.1 

That  whole  afternoon  of  my  journey  the  sky  had  for  me  a 
1  See  p.  226,  below. 


6     EN  ROUTE  FOR    THE  LAND    OF   THE  LION  AND    THE   SUN 

poetic  coloring ;  the  sunshine  was  tempered  by  clouds  which 
imparted  a  tinge  of  melancholy ;  there  was  a  faint  suggestion 
of  spring  in  the  air ;  but  dusk  and  its  accompanying  chill  came 
early,  and  evening  had  already  closed  in  before  Tiflis  was 
reached.  The  night  turned  out  clear  and  cold.  The  lamps 
of  the  terraced  town  shone  bright  like  a  myriad  lights  in  the 
blue,  and  gave  a  fairy-like  effect  to  the  scene.  Much  of  this 
impression  was  dispelled  by  day,  but  this  was  not  due  to  lack 
of  good  accommodations  at  the  Hotel  de  Londres,  which  is 
one  of  the  last  places  for  bidding  adieu  to  Western  comforts 
before  entering  Persia. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 

C*i  IFOR!^ 


THE  MICHAELIS  BRIDGE  OVER  THE  KURA  AT  TIFLIS 


THE  CAUCASIAN  MUSEUM,  TIFLIS 


CHAPTER   II 
TIFLIS,  THE   CAPITAL    OF   TRANSCAUCASIA 

*  Parthians,  and  Medes,  and  Elamites,  and  the  dwellers  in  Mesopotamia,  and 
in  Judaea,  and  Cappadocia,  in  Poutus,  and  Asia.' 

—  NEW  TESTAMENT,  Acts  2.  9. 

TIFLIS  is  a  combination  of  Orient  and  Occident.  It  is  one 
of  those  cities  in  which  Western  civilization  has  been  welded 
on  to  Eastern  custom,  but  the  signs  of  the  joining  will  never 
disappear.  Its  languages  are  as  many  as  those  at  the  gift  of 
tongues  at  Pentecost,  and  its  types  are  as  multifarious  as  a 
union  of  ancient  and  modern  life  can  bring  together.  Along 
its  crowded  thoroughfares  the  sheepskin-clad  dweller  of  the 
Caucasus  rubs  elbows  with  the  Armenian,  Georgian,  Persian, 
Kurd,  Turk,  and  Tartar,  or  moves  side  by  side  with  the  Euro- 
pean dressed  in  broadcloth.  The  ever  shifting  groups  and 
constantly  changing  colors  rival  a  kaleidoscope  in  variety. 
The  winding  alleys  of  the  native  quarters,  the  mazes  of  the 
bazaars,  and  the  crowded  passages  between  the  booths  are 
quite  Oriental,  but  the  European  sections  of  the  town,  with 
broad  streets,  long  avenues,  and  large  squares,  are  Occidental 
and  show  the  evidences  of  Russian  advance. 

Being  the  capital  of  Transcaspia,  Tiflis  is  the  head  of  the 
civil  and  military  authority,  as  well  as  the  seat  of  government. 
Its  growth  commercially  has  been  remarkable  in  recent  years ; 
its  busy  heart  throbs  with  the  double  pulse  of  East  and  West, 
and  its  claim  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  inhabitants 
seems  not  at  all  exaggerated. 

Historically  Tiflis  is  a  place  of  interest  also,  as  it  was  the 
capital  of  ancient  Georgia.  It  is  said  to  have  owed  much  of 

7 


8  TIFLIS,    THE   CAPITAL    OF   TRANSCAUCASIA 

its  original  renown  to  the  Georgian  emperor  Vakhtang  Gurgas- 
lan,  in  the  fifth  century  of  our  era,  who  was  attracted  to  the 
place  by  the  health-giving  properties  of  its  sulphur  baths.  The 
qualities  of  these  hot  springs  are  especially  mentioned  by  the 
Arab  traveller  Ibn  Haukal,  in  the  tenth  century,  who  states 
that  '  the  water  is  warm  without  fire,'  and  adds,  '  Tiflis  is 
a  pleasant  place  and  abounds  in  provisions ;  it  has  two  walls 
of  clay  and  produces  much  fruit,  and  agriculture  is  practised 
in  its  territories.'1  In  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury it  suffered,  in  common  with  most  cities  of  Asia,  the  mis- 
fortune of  being  plundered  by  Timur  Lang,  or  Tamerlane.  Its 
general  development  as  a  metropolis,  though  menaced  at  times 
by  the  Turks,  went  on  under  Persian  rule  until  1801,  when  the 
Russians  took  possession  of  Tiflis,  and  it  has  remained  ever 
since  under  the  sway  of  Russian  authority,  although  riots  and 
uprisings,  due  to  the  unruly  character  of  the  mixed  population 
of  the  Caucasus,  have  occurred  from  time  to  time. 

The  town  is  situated  partly  upon  a  hill,  the  site  of  the 
ancient  citadel,  and  approaches  another  elevation  to  the  north 
and  east,  so  that  the  city  has  a  somewhat  terraced  effect. 
Through  the  middle  of  it,  running  from  northwest  to  south- 
east and  roughly  dividing  it  in  half,  flows  the  river  Kura,  the 
Cyrus  of  the  ancients.  On  either  side  of  this  rapid  stream, 
and  forming  the  southern  part  of  the  town,  are  the  native 
quarters  of  Tiflis,  the  Georgian  section  (Avlabar)  being  on 
the  east,  or  left,  bank,  the  bazaars  on  the  west,  or  right,  bank. 
Adjoining  the  bazaars  as  we  look  northward,  and  still  on  the 
same  side  of  the  river,  is  the  Russian  quarter,  with  its  fine 
edifices,  broad  avenues,  and  imposing  Alexander  Garden  as  a 
centre.  Crossing  the  river  from  this  point  by  one  of  its 
several  bridges,  we  enter  the  German  district,  which  extends 
northward  from  the  Georgian  quarter  and  owes  its  name  to 
a  colony  of  sturdy  dissenters  from  Wiirtemberg,  who  were 
among  a  number  that  left  the  Fatherland  early  in  the  last 
1  Ibn  Haukal,  tr.  Ouseley,  p.  160. 


THE   CAUCASIAN  MUSEUM  9 

century  because  of  certain  religious  differences  of  opinion  and 
made  Tiflis  their  adopted  home. 

In  the  Russian  quarter  are  stately  buildings  devoted  to 
administration,  the  post,  and  banking,  together  with  churches, 
theatres,  clubs,  shops,  hotels,  residences  official  and  private, 
parks,  and  gardens,  all  of  which  show  the  introduction  of 
Western  ideas.  One  of  the  most  interesting  edifices  is  the 
Caucasian  Museum  with  its  rich  collection  of  illustrative  mate- 
rial relating  to  the  region  lying  between  the  Caspian  and  the 
Black  Sea.  Here  the  student  will  find  a  storehouse  of  anti- 
quarian wealth  amassed  with  care  and  judgment  by  Dr. 
Gustav  Radde,  who  devoted  years  of  his  life  to  the  cause. 
When  I  arrived  at  Tiflis,  I  learned  that  this  enthusiastic  and 
scholarly  collector  was  seriously  ill  with  what  eventually 
proved  to  be  his  last  sickness.  Despite  his  feeble  condition  he 
insisted  upon  my  coming  to  call  at  his  bedside  and  sent  a 
special  guide  to  conduct  me  around  the  museum.  The  kindly 
greeting  which  he  gave  me  and  the  gentle  farewell  that 
followed  I  shall  always  remember. 

The  museum  well  repays  a  careful  visit.  As  a  special  col- 
lection to  illustrate  the  natural  history,  flora  and  fauna,  eth- 
nology, and  archaeology  of  the  Caucasus  region  —  a  region 
particularly  interesting  as  being  the  bridge  between  Asia  and 
Europe  —  it  is  unmatched.  Two  exhibits  of  aquatic  life  and 
land  animals  around  the  Caspian  Sea  particularly  interested 
me  because  of  their  being  referred  to  in  the  Avesta,  or  Zoroas- 
trian  Bible.  One  of  these  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  giant 
sturgeon,  known  as  the  accipenser  huso,  a  fish  fifteen  feet  or 
more  long,  and  mentioned  in  the  Avesta,  as  I  believe,  under 
the  name  of  Jcara  masya,  or  fozr-fish.1  The  other  was  a  group 
of  wild  boars,  admirably  mounted  by  the  taxidermist  so  as  to 
display  all  the  fierceness  and  combativeness  of  the  vardza,  or 
wild  boar,  described  in  the  Zoroastrian  texts.2 

To  us  of  the  West  the  chief  attraction  of  Tiflis  lies  not  in  its 
1  See  Vd.  19. 42 ;  Yt.  14. 29 ;  Pahlavi  Vsp.  1. 1 ;  Bd.  18. 3  ;  etc.  2  See  Yt.  14. 15  seq. 


10  TIFLIS,    THE   CAPITAL    OF   TRANSCAUCASIA 

European  features,  but  in  its  Oriental  side  and  the  remains 
which  it  shows  of  an  older  civilization.  A  survival  of  Oriental 
mediaevalism  is  seen  in  the  fortress  which  crowns  the  height 
overlooking  the  city  and  commands  the  town  with  its  old-time 
battlements.  Still  older  are  the  remains  of  a  tower  and  ruined 
aqueduct  which  overlook  the  Botanical  Garden  to  the  south  of 
Tiflis.  The  bridges  that  cross  the  river  Kura  (Cyrus)  and 
connect  the  two  halves  of  the  city  are  partly  old  and  partly 
new.  The  most  interesting,  perhaps,  because  most  crowded,  is 
the  bridge  of  the  Tartar  Meidan,  which  leads  to  one  of  the 
sections  of  the  native  bazaars.  These  bazaars  are  not  so  Oriental 
as  the  Persian  bazaars,  but  their  crowded  booths,  the  variety  of 
wares  displayed,  and  the  bargains  they  offer  in  Daghistan  rugs 
and  Caucasian  armor,  afford  an  attractive  place  of  visit  for 
those  who  have  not  travelled  in  the  East  before. 

During  my  stay  of  three  or  four  days  at  Tiflis  I  gathered 
some  additional  information  regarding  the  Yezidis,  or  Devil- 
Worshippers,  a  people  to  whom  my  attention  had  previously 
been  drawn  in  connection  with  my  studies  about  Zoroaster  and 
the  religion  of  ancient  Persia.  A  Swedish  missionary,  the  Rev. 
E.  John  Larson  and  his  wife,  who  have  done  much  evangelistic 
work  among  the  Yezidis  of  Tiflis  and  the  vicinity  and  have 
thus  become  familiar  with  their  manners,  customs,  and  beliefs, 
were  my  informants. 

The  Yezidis  are  chiefly  found  in  the  Caucasus,  Armenia, 
and  Kurdistan,  although  they  are  scattered  over  a  considerably 
wider  territory,  their  headquarters  being  in  the  province  of 
Mosul,  Mesopotamia.  Owing  to  the  persecutions  which  they 
have  suffered  throughout  their  history,  their  number  is  not  large; 
nevertheless  they  are  said  to  number  twelve  thousand  in  the 
region  of  the  Caucasus  alone,  and  there  are  at  least  several 
hundred  Yezidis  living  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Tiflis. 
They  do  not  speak  of  themselves  ordinarily  as  Yezidis,  but  em- 
ploy the  names  of  their  respective  tribes  or  adopt  by  preference 
the  term  Dasni,  a  tribal  designation  in  the  neighborhood  of 


RUINED  TOWER  AND  AQUEDUCT  OVERLOOKING  THE  BOTANICAL  GARDEN 


THE  TARTAR  MEIDAN  AT  TIFLIS 


THE    YEZIDIS,   OR  DEVIL-WORSHIPPERS  11 

Mosul,  close  to  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh,  which  was  one  of 
the  original  homes  of  the  religion.  Various  explanations  have 
been  proposed  for  the  name  Yezidi,  among  them  one  which 
associates  it  with  Yazddn,  the  Persian  word  for  God,  as  the 
Yezidis  undeniably  believe  in  a  god,  although  they  do  not  ordi- 
narily speak  of  him.  A  second  suggestion  is  to  connect  it  with 
the  town  of  Yezd.  A  third  seeks  to  derive  the  name  from 
Yezid,  the  detested  Mussulman  Kaliph  who  slew  Husein,  the 
grandson  of  Mohammed,  for  Yezid  is  fabled  to  have  been  a  cham- 
pion of  their  faith.  But  none  of  these  suggestions  seem  very 
satisfactory.1 

According  to  the  belief  of  the  Yezidis,  God,  the  creator  of 
heaven  and  earth,  first  made  from  his  own  essence  six  other 
divinities,  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  principal  stars,  and  these 
joined  with  him  in  creating  the  angels.  The  devil,  who  was 
God's  own  creation,  rebelled  against  his  lord  and  was  cast  into 
hell.  He  afterward  repented  of  his  sin,  did  penance  for  seven 
thousand  years,  and  shed  tears  of  contrition  which  fill  seven 
vessels  that  will  be  used  at  the  Day  of  Judgment  to  quench 
the  fires  of  the  seven  hells.  God  in  his  mercy  pardoned  the 
recreant,  restored  him  to  heavenly  rank,  made  him  one  with 
himself,  and  forbade  the  angels  to  look  with  scorn  upon  their 
reinstated  brother.  Inasmuch  as  God's  grace  thus  forgave 
and  exalted  even  Satan  himself,  man  should  not  look  with 
hatred  upon  this  so-called  representative  of  evil.  On  this 
account  the  Yezidis  never  allow  the  name  of  Satan  to  pass  their 
lips,  avoiding  even  a  syllable  that  suggests  the  word,  and 
shrinking  with  horror  from  any  mention  of  the  devil  by  others. 
They  venerate  his  sacred  majesty  under  the  name  of  Malik 
Td'us,  4  King  Peacock,'  a  title  which  they  apply  to  the  holy 

!For  further  details  on  this  and  letin   Soc.   NeuchateL   Geog.    12.  275 

the  general  subject  of  the  Yezidis,  see  seq.) ;   Adams,  Persia  by  a  Persian, 

my  article   'Yezidi'   in  the  New  In-  pp.  497-509,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  1900  ; 

ternational    Encyclopedia,    17.    939  ;  Layard,  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  part 

my  note  in  JAOS.  25.  178-181 ;  Spiro,  1,  ch.  9,  pp.  270-325,  London,  1854  ;  id. 

Les  Yezidi,  Neuchatel,  1900  (in  Bui-  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  London,  1853. 


12  TIFL1S,    THE   CAPITAL    OF   TRANSCAUCASIA 

standard  (sanjak)  or  symbol  of  their  religion,  which  is  a  peacock, 
conventionalized  in  their  art  so  as  almost  to  resemble  a  cock. 
Malik  Taus  revealed  himself  in  the  form  of  a  handsome  youth 
with  a  peacock's  tail  when  he  appeared  in  a  vision  before  Sheikh 
Aadi,  the  prophet  of  the  faith. 

I  have  sometimes  thought  that  this  reverence  shown  for  the 
power  of  evil  may  be  similar  in  character  to  the  propitiatory 
sacrifice  offered  in  ancient  times  to  the  divinity  beneath  the 
earth  by  Amestris,  the  wife  of  Xerxes,  according  to  Herodotus 
and  other  authorities.1  It  seems  possible  also  that  the  daeva- 
yasna,  or  'Devil-Worshippers,'  anathematized  in  the  Avesta 
may  have  entertained  kindred  ideas  about  venerating  the 
realm  of  darkness,  and  that  the  Yezidis  and  their  strange 
beliefs  preserve  traces  of  the  devil-worship  in  Mazandaran 
which  Zoroaster  so  bitterly  denounced. 

It  is  clear  that  the  Yezidi  faith  shows  some  ancient  Iranian 
traits,  such  as  certain  marked  dualistic  features,  a  reverence 
for  the  elements,  fire,  water,  and  earth,  and  a  belief  in  a  father 
primeval,  who  lived  before  Adam  and  did  not  fall  in  sin.  This 
latter  belief  appears  to  be  a  reminiscence  of  the  Avestan  Gaya- 
maretan,  who  lived  before  Mashya  and  Mashyoi,  the  Iranian 
Adam  and  Eve.  The  Yezidis  likewise  refrain  from  spitting 
upon  the  ground  —  an  observance  as  old  as  the  Magi2 — nor 
will  they  pour  boiling  water  upon  the  earth  for  fear  of  scald- 
ing the  face  of  the  little  devils.  I  have  often  been  told  that 
if  a  circle  be  drawn  on  the  ground  around  a  Yezidi  he  will 
stand  for  hours  in  the  middle  of  it  without  venturing  to  step 
over  the  charmed  line,  which  reminds  one  of  the  karshvars 
drawn  in  Avestan  rites  of  exorcism  according  to  the  Vendidad. 
It  is  thought,  moreover,  that  the  Yezidi  religion  shows  distant 
survivals  of  the  old  Assyro-Babylonian  worship  of  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars,  for  the  faith  appears  to  have  retained  the 
sun-god  Shamash  under  the  form  of  Sheikh  Shems  and  the 

1  Herodotus,  Hist.  7. 114  ;  cf.  3.  35.         paedia,  8.  1.   42.      See   also  Adams, 

2  Ibid.  1.  99,  138  ;  Xenopbon,  Cyro-      Persia,  pp.  497,  499. 


YEZIDIS,  OR  SO-CALLED  DEVIL-WORSHIPPERS,  IN  TIFLIS 


BELIEFS   OF   THE  DEVIL-WORSHIPPERS  13 

moon-god  Sin  as  Sheikh  Sinn,  an  emanation  of  God  him- 
self.1 

In  many  respects  the  Yezidi  doctrines  have  been  influenced 
by  Manichseism,  and  its  doctrines  of  purity,  by  Nestorian 
Christianity  and  especially  by  Mohammedanism.  With  each 
of  these  religions  the  Yezidis  have  come  into  contact.  They 
recognize  Mohammed  as  a  prophet  of  equal  rank  with  Abraham 
and  the  patriarchs,  and  they  believe  that  Christ  was  an  angel 
in  human  form.  One  curious  statement  that  I  heard  is  that 
the  Yezidis  sacrifice  one  sheep  every  year  to  Christ  and  thirty 
to  the  devil.  The  rite  of  baptism  is  practised  among  them, 
and  circumcision  is  general,  but  not  universal.  A  part  of  their 
marriage  ceremony  consists  in  the  bridegroom  and  bride  divid- 
ing a  piece  of  bread  between  them,  but  the  Yezidis  also  allow 
Mohammedan  priests  formally  to  officiate  at  their  weddings 
and  even  at  their  funerals.  They  recognize,  however,  a  regu- 
lar system  of  priesthood  of  their  own,  headed  by  a  Myr,  or 
high  priest,  together  with  various  ecclesiastics  and  clerical 
functionaries,  and  including  an  order  of  mendicant  devotees, 
male  and  female,  fakir  and  faklriah.  The  Yezidis  have  no  sac- 
rifices or  temples  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term,  but  they  have 
a  number  of  religious  ceremonies  and  observe  several  fasts  and 
festivals,  most  important  among  the  latter  being  the  autumnal 
worship  of  the  effigy  of  Malik  Taus,  an  occasion  which  is 
accompanied  by  offerings  and  prayers.  Among  their  peculiar 
superstitions  is  a  curious  abhorrence  for  the  color  blue. 

In  their  daily  life  the  Yezidis  are  not  forbidden  the  use  of 
wine,  as  the  Mohammedans  are,  but  they  do  not  indulge  in 
it  to  excess.  Nor  is  polygamy  prohibited,  although  it  is  ap- 
parently not  much  practised  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the 
people.  The  belief  in  a  future  life,  and  a  system  of  rewards 
and  punishments  hereafter,  forms  part  of  their  faith.  Among 
these  punishments  is  the  condemnation  to  assume  in  another 

existence  the  form  of  some  animal,  for  the  doctrine  of  trans- 
1  Spiro,  Les  Yezidi,  pp.  20,  26. 


14  TIFLIS,    THE   CAPITAL    OF   TRANSCAUCASIA 

migration  is  a  recognized  one.1  The  Yezidis  have  a  book  of 
divine  revelation,  which  they  call  Al-Yalvah,  and  they  name 
as  its  great  expounder  their  sainted  head  Sheikh  Aadi,  who 
lived  about  A.D.  1200.2 

As  to  their  social  status  I  was  informed  that  the  Yezidis 
around  Tiflis  and  Erivan  occupy  an  inferior  position,  and  I 
understand  that  the  same  is  true  elsewhere.  Their  occupations 
at  Tiflis  are  largely  menial,  as  they  are  employed  chiefly  in 
drudgery  work  and  as  scavengers.  For  that  reason  they  go 
clad  in  the  meanest  rags.  The  stories  which  were  told  me 
about  them  reminded  me  somewhat  of  the  'sweeper  class'  in 
India  ;  but  recent  Russian  municipal  ordinances  at  Tiflis  have 
partly  transferred  the  duties  of  the  Yezidis  to  other  hands,  so 
that  their  occupations  have  varied  considerably  within  the  past 
year  or  two.  In  general  they  are  accustomed  to  live  outside 
the  town  and  come  into  the  city  for  work  during  the  day.  The 
wife  carries  on  the  household  duties  and  does  the  agricultural 
work  connected  with  the  soil.  The  wants  of  the  Yezidi  and 
his  family  are  meagre,  and  they  appear  to  lead  contented  lives. 
Around  Tiflis,  moreover,  there  are  said  to  be  a  considerable 
number  of  Yezidis  who,  despite  their  impoverished  appearance, 
possess  considerable  money. 

Most  of  the  last  day  in  Tiflis  was  devoted  to  making  final 
preparations  for  my  journey  and  to  completing  the  necessary 
outfit,  for  Persia  is  still  without  railroads  and  hotels,  except  at 
Teheran,  and  travelling  through  the  country  is  synonymous 
with  roughing  it. 

For  caravan  transport  the  4  kit '  should  be  as  light  and  com- 
pact as  possible,  but  a  folding  cot,  serving  alike  as  bed,  desk, 
and  dining-table,  is  indispensable.  A  European  saddle  and 
bridle,  boots  or  riding-leggings,  will  also  be  found  to  be  a  sine 


1  For  general  details  see  my  note,  2  So  my   informant ;    but  Adams, 

JAOS.25. 181 ;  Adams,  Persia,  pp.499,  Persia    by    a   Persian,   p.    501,   says 

605-506;  SpiTo,Les Yezidi, pp.  14 (286),  'about  the  middle  of  the  tenth  cen- 

16  (288),  29  (301).  tury.' 


TYPES  OF  YEZIDIS,  OR  DEVIL-WORSHIPPERS,  AT  TIFLIS 


TIFLIS  CITADEL  (ANOTHER  VIEW) 


MAKING    UP   A   KIT  FOR    THE  JOURNEY  15 

qua  non.  As  for  clothing,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  cold 
in  the  mountains  is  intense  in  winter  and  the  heat  of  the 
deserts  is  equally  extreme  in  summer.  In  either  case  dark 
smoked  glasses  will  be  found  to  be  a  great  protection  against 
the  snow,  sun,  or  dust.  Besides  the  necessary  cooking  utensils 
and  travelling  articles,  I  took  also  an  extra  supply  of  straps, 
padlocks,  two  cameras,  some  books,  including  a  map,  several 
knick-knacks  for  gifts,  and  sundry  other  things  which  one  is 
likely  to  need  on  a  long  journey.  For  packing  this  outfit  my 
experience  showed  that  two  stout  leather  suit-cases  and  a 
portmanteau  were  sufficient,  if  supplemented  by  some  native 
pouches.  It  is  important  above  all  in  caravaning  to  have 
several  small  bundles,  rather  than  one  or  two  large  ones, 
for  the  parcels  can  thus  be  more  easily  distributed  so  as  to 
balance  equally  on  the  packhorse. 

At  the  hotel  I  engaged  the  services  of  a  Georgian  guide,  old 
Rustom,  to  conduct  me  to  the  frontier ;  his  name  pleased  me 
because  of  its  historic  associations  with  Rustam,  the  Persian 
hero.  As  a  guide  he  was  well  informed  and  reliable,  and 
well  equipped  linguistically,  since  he  spoke  no  less  than  six 
languages.  French  was  our  medium  of  communication. 

The  luggage,  including  camp-bed  and  saddle,  was  dexter- 
ously packed,  the  final  arrangements  were  all  completed,  and 
before  many  hours  I  was  on  the  train,  started  for  a  trip  of 
fifteen  more  hours  to  Erivan,  where  the  railroad  now  ends 
beneath  the  shadow  of  Mount  Ararat. 


CHAPTER    III 

ERIVAN,  MOUNT    ARARAT,   AND    THE   ROAD   TO   THE 
PERSIAN    BORDER 

4  The  ark  rested  upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat.' 

—  OLD  TESTAMENT,  Genesis  8.  4. 

TOWARD  sunset  on  the  following  day,  as  the  train  ap- 
proached the  ancient  town  of  Erivan,  I  caught  my  first  view 
of  Mount  Ararat,  crested  with  clouds  and  wrapped  in  snow 
over  which  the  sun  shed  a  soft  roseate  hue.  Rising  solitary 
from  the  plain,  not  backed  by  ranges  of  lesser  hills,  Ararat 
possesses  a  lonely  grandeur  which  makes  it  a  fitting  place  for 
the  ark  to  have  rested  upon  at  the  solemn  death-hour  of  an 
older  race  and  the  birth  of  a  new  generation. 

This  stupendous  mountain,  which  comprises  two  contiguous 
bases,  lifts  its  huge  mass  nearly  seventeen  thousand  feet  above 
sea-level,  or  fourteen  thousand  above  the  surrounding  plain. 
The  summit  of  the  larger  peak,  known  as  Great  Ararat,  is 
16,916  feet  high,  and  is  crowned  with  eternal  snow ;  the  crest 
of  Little  Ararat,  seven  miles  distant,  is  12,840  feet,  and  it  is 
hardly  less  impressive.  Both  peaks  owe  their  origin  to  forces 
of  a  volcanic  nature,  and  a  great  chasm,  thousands  of  feet  deep, 
torn  in  the  northwestern  side  of  Great  Ararat,  lays  bare  the 
dead  giant's  heart.1 

The  Avesta  mentions  Ararat,  it  is  thought,  under  the  name 
of  Mazishvant  (Yt.  19.  2),  a  term  which  recalls  Masis,  the 
designation  given  it  by  the  Armenians,  who  believe  it  to  be 
the  mountain  on  which  the  ark  rested,  having  taken  over  the 
tradition  of  the  deluge  with  their  acceptance  of  Christianity. 

1  For  an  excellent  description  of  to  its  top,  see  Lynch,  Armenia,  1. 
Ararat  and  an  account  of  an  ascent  142-199,  London,  1901. 

16 


MOUNT  ARARAT,  NEAR  ERIVAN 


RUSTOM,  MY  GEORGIAN  GUIDE  TO  THE  FRONTIER 


MOUNT  ARARAT  17 

The  Persian  name  for  it  is  Koh-i  Nuh,  l  Noah's  Mountain,'1 
while  the  Tartars  merely  call  it  Aghri  Dagh,  'Steep  Moun- 
tain,' the  name  given  to  the  range  running  eastward.  The 
old  superstition  current  among  the  natives,  to  the  effect  that 
its  summit  cannot  be  reached  by  man,  has  long  been  dispelled, 
since  no  less  than  sixteen  different  ascents  by  Europeans  have 
been  recorded  within  the  past  hundred  years. 

Legends  about  Noah  naturally  cluster  around  Ararat  and  its 
vicinity.  The  place  where  the  patriarch  planted  the  vine  and 
partook  to  excess  of  the  juice  of  the  grape  was  formerly  shown 
near  the  village  of  Akhuri  (Akori),  or  Arguri  —  a  hamlet 
whose  name,  by  popular  etymology  in  Armenian,  is  supposed 
to  mean  4he  (Noah)  planted  the  vine'  (ark  ur)?  whence  the 
modern  form  Arguri.  In  like  manner  the  spot  where  he  built 
an  altar  and  offered  burnt  sacrifices  to  Jehovah  used  to  be 
pointed  out,  as  well  as  a  stunted  willow  sprung  from  a  plank 
of  the  ark.3  These  relics  were  swept  away  by  a  terrific  earth- 
quake which  took  place  in  the  chasm  near  Akori,  July  2,  1840, 
overwhelming  the  village  and  destroying  its  inhabitants. 
From  the  descriptions  by  those  who  survived  the  cataclysm  it 
must  have  resembled  the  terrors  of  the  Day  of  Judgment. 

For  two  nights  I  slept  a  frozen  sleep  at  Erivan  beneath  the 
heights  of  Ararat.  The  so-called  'hotel'  at  which  I  lodged 
was  one  merely  in  name  and  sign,  and  I  almost  perished  with 
the  cold.  I  look  back  with  a  shiver  at  the  experience  in  those 
uncomfortable  quarters  ;  but  later,  when  I  became  acquainted 
with  exposure  in  Persian  mud  hovels,  I  thought  that  the 
hostelry  may  not  actually  have  been  so  bad  as  it  seemed. 

Erivan  is  the  capital  of  Russian  Armenia  and  a  place  of 
nearly  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  Its  history  is  obscure,  but 
local  tradition  is  naturally  not  loath  to  carry  the  origin  of  the 

1  The  ark  is  alluded  to  in  the  Koran,  Ortsnamen,  in  Indogermanische  For- 
ch.  29.  schungen,  16.  395,  Strassburg,  1904. 

2  On  this  mistaken  folk-etymology,  8  See  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  46 ; 
see  Hubschmann,  Die  altarmenischen  Lynch,  Armenia,  1.  182. 


18       ERIVAN  AND    THE  ROAD    TO   THE  PERSIAN  BORDER 

town  back  to  the  days  of  Noah.  The  name  Erivan,  according 
to  some  authorities,  stands  for  Erevan  and  is  derived  from  the 
Armenian  erevan,  '  appearance,'  since  4  dry  land  first  made  its 
appearance  here  after  Noah's  flood.'  According  to  others,  it 
owes  its  origin  to  the  legendary  king  or  heros  eponymus  Ero- 
vand,  or  to  the  Armenian  leader  Erovant  or  Ervand,  who  was 
overthrown  by  the  Persians  in  the  first  century  of  our  era.1 
The  one  etymology  is  as  unlikely  as  the  other.2  According 
to  the  Armenian  historian,  John  Katholikos,  Erivan  was  a 
place  of  considerable  size  in  the  seventh  century,  although  we 
know  little  if  anything  about  it  till  the  sixteenth,  when  the 
possession  of  Erivan  became  a  bone  of  contention  between  the 
Persians  and  the  Ottoman  Turks.3  The  question  was  finally 
settled  in  1827,  when  the  Russians  took  possession  of  the  city. 
The  bazaars  accordingly  show  abundant  evidence  of  the  Rus- 
sian occupation  and  advance  in  trade,  and  I  was  able  at  Erivan 
to  add  to  my  kit  a  number  of  European  necessaries  not  ordi- 
narily found  in  Asiatic  marts. 

In  its  general  characteristics  Erivan  is  Oriental,  not  Occi- 
dental, but  it  does  not  show  the  many  signs  of  antiquity  which 
might  be  expected  of  its  age.  This  is  largely  due  to  the 
frequent  wars  between  the  Turks  and  the  Persians  —  wars 
rendered  more  cruel  by  reason  of  the  bitter  hatred  that  exists 
between  the  rival  Mohammedan  sects  of  Sunnis  and  Shiahs 
to  which  the  two  nations  respectively  belong.  These  conflicts 
have  helped  to  destroy  numerous  monuments  which  Erivan 
must  have  boasted  in  the  past.  There  are  still  some  mosques 
and  minarets  worthy  of  attention,  but  the  chief  memorial  of 
the  Persian  period  is  the  palace  of  the  governors,  or  sarddrs, 

1  See  Lynch,  Armenia,  1.  209  seq.  A.D.  925    (Lynch,    Armenia,    1.  210, 

For   the    name  Erovand,   see    Justi,  n.  2).    The  fact  that  the  Arab  traveller 

Iranisches  Namenbuch,  p.  89.  Ibn  Haukal  does  not  mention  Erivan 

3  Hubschmann,  IF.  16.  426.  in  the  tenth  century,  nor  Yakut  in  the 

8  John    Katholikos    wrote    in    the  twelfth,    can   hardly  be  used  as  an 

eleventh  century,   compiling  the  an-  argument,  as  John  Katholikos  flour- 

nals  of  his  country  down  to  the  year  ished  between  these  two  writers. 


ECHMIADZIN  IN  THE  SNOW 


BAZAAR  OF  ERIVAN 


THE  MONASTERY  OF  ECHMIADZIN  NEAR  ERIVAN         19 

adjoining  a  mosque  whose  dome  is  decorated  with  colored  tiles 
and  inlaid  arabesques.  The  palace  itself  forms  part  of  a  for- 
tified enclosure  overlooking  the  Zangi  River,  which  sweeps 
beneath  its  mud  walls.  Although  falling  into  decay,  the 
audience-hall  of  the  palace  still  shows  signs  of  former  splendor, 
with  fretted  ceilings  inlaid  in  Persian  style  with  tiny  mirrors, 
and  with  walls  adorned  by  historic  paintings.  Among  the 
more  modern  portraits  is  that  of  Fath  Ali  Shah,  the  great- 
great-grandfather  of  the  present  Shah ;  but  the  paintings 
which  interested  me  most  were  those  of  Sohrab  and  Rustam, 
whose  fatal  conflict  Matthew  Arnold  has  retold  from  Firdausi, 
and  of  Feramurz,  Rustam's  second  son.  At  the  end  of  the 
great  chamber  was  a  huge  latticed  window,  whose  panels  were 
inlaid  with  small  patines  of  colored  glass,  through  which  the 
sun  shone  with  a  rich  iridescence.  The  view  through  this 
dazzling  frame  as  the  afternoon  faded  was  fine.  Far  in  the 
distance,  but  ever  close  at  hand,  loomed  snow-clad  Ararat ; 
beneath  the  palace  walls  and  the  buttresses  of  the  fort  swept 
the  river  Zangi,  held  in  check  only  by  its  precipitous  banks  ; 
a  caravan  wended  its  way  slowly  across  the  bridge ;  and 
through  the  deserted  hall  of  princes  shone  a  gleam  of  sunlight 
reflecting  the  splendor  of  by-gone  days. 

The  greater  part  of  my  second  day  at  Erivan  was  spent  in 
a  visit  to  the  Armenian  church  and  monastery  of  Echmiadzin, 
about  thirteen  miles  distant,  near  the  village  of  Vagharshapat. 
This  celebrated  cloister  is  the  seat  of  the  Katholikos,  or  patri- 
arch, of  the  Armenian  church.  It  is  said  to  have  been  founded 
by  Gregory  the  Illuminator,  who  converted  the  Armenians  to 
Christianity  early  in  the  fourth  century,  and  relics  of  the  saint 
are  preserved  among  its  treasures.  The  library  contains  a 
valuable  collection  of  Armenian  manuscripts,  among  which 
I  noted  some  particularly  fine  copies  of  the  gospels,1  some 

1  The  most  recent  notes  on  these  1904  ;  id.  Quelques  JZvangeliaires  Ar- 
are  by  Meillet,  Journal  Asiatique,  meniens  Accentues,  extr.  from  Des 
165  (10th  ser.  14),  pp.  487-507,  Paris,  Memoires  Orientaux,  Paris,  1905. 


20       ERIVAN  AND    THE  ROAD    TO    THE  PERSIAN  BORDER 

ancient  boundary  stones  inscribed  with  cuneiform  characters 
(not  Persian),  a  rich  assortment  of  Parthian,  Roman,  and 
Sasanian  coins,  and  many  other  objects  of  interest  to  the 
archaeological  student.  The  priest  who  conducted  me  through 
the  various  buildings  had  studied  Oriental  languages  under 
my  teacher  Geldner  in  Berlin,  so  that  we  had  a  bond  of 
sympathy  at  once,  and  excellent  opportunities  were  afforded 
me  to  see  the  collections. 

The  next  afternoon  I  arranged  to  leave  Erivan  for  Julfa  on 
the  Persian  border.  It  was  now  necessary  to  procure  a  post- 
chaise,  as  the  railroad  had  been  laid  no  farther  than  Erivan, 
but  I  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  obtaining  any  sort  of 
conveyance.  A  party  of  Russian  engineers  had  first  claim 
on  all  horses,  as  they  were  on  their  way  to  Persia  to  build 
for  the  government  macadamized  roads, -over  which  the  rail- 
way lines  can  be  laid  down  later.  At  last  a  vehicle  was 
secured ;  it  was  a  heavy  phaeton,  with  a  large  leather  hood 
over  the  back,  and  it  was  drawn  by  four  horses.  There  was 
much  ado  in  getting  the  baggage  lashed  securely  on  behind, 
and  after  many  delays  and  petty  annoyances  the  journey  was 
finally  begun. 

Progress  was  difficult  and  slow.  Ice,  snow,  and  slimy  mud 
filled  the  roads  and  rendered  speed  impossible.  The  inner  court 
of  the  first  caravansarai  at  which  we  halted  looked  like  a  lake, 
although  the  room  on  each  side  of  the  entrance  was  habitable. 
I  took  the  one  on  the  right,  as  the  left  was  already  occupied  by 
rough  natives  who  wore  heavy  sheepskin  caps  and  were  armed 
with  daggers  and  long  guns.  If  there  had  been  any  Arme- 
nians among  them,  I  presume  my  Georgian  guide  Rustom  would 
have  called  them  hogs,  for  he  muttered  cochon  every  time  we 
passed  a  group  of  Armenians  on  the  road.  I  was  too  tired  to 
take  particular  notice  of  my  surroundings  and  was  glad  at 
the  haste  with  which  Rustom  arranged  my  camp-bed.  In  an 
instant  I  was  asleep. 

Shortly  after  midnight  I  awoke  with  a  start.     A  dark  figure 


ECHMIADZIN  IN  THE  SNOW 


BAZAAR  OF  ERIVAN 


FROM  EEIVAN  TO  JULFA  21 

with  long  ebon  beard  and  black  cowl  concealing  the  face  stood 
at  the  foot  of  my  cot.  In  the  uncertain  light  the  form  looked 
like  that  of  a  giant.  I  grasped  instinctively  for  my  revolver, 
but  a  salutation  came  from  the  muffled  lips,  and  I  saw  that 
the  newcomer  had  no  malicious  intent.  He  was  accompanied 
by  an  elderly  woman,  robed  partly  in  black,  and  she  nodded 
a  silent  greeting.  Both  used  Russian,  but  spoke  very  little. 
We  interchanged  civilities  and  cigarettes,  but  I  did  not  inquire 
about  the  purpose  of  their  journey,  nor  they  about  mine.  As 
we  were  to  start  before  daylight,  I  made  no  attempt  to  sleep 
again,  and  in  a  couple  of  hours  I  had  resumed  my  seat  in  the 
post-chaise,  followed  by  the  vehicle  of  my  fellow-travellers. 
The  darkness  was  thick,  the  snow  blinding,  and  the  road  was 
continually  blocked  by  trains  of  camels,  caravan  succeeding 
caravan  in  endless  procession.  I  counted  two  hundred  of 
these  dromedaries  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  They 
were  chained  in  strings  of  eight,  ten,  or  a  dozen,  and  their 
heavy  bells,  donging  monotonously  as  each  one  passed,  made 
the  count  easy.1 

Toward  dawn  I  could  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  wagon  of  our 
companions  following  through  the  snow.  Across  the  front  of 
their  vehicle  was  a  long,  narrow  box,  and  I  then  learned  that  it 
was  an  empty  coffin  in  which  the  woman  was  to  bring  back  the 
body  of  one  of  her  sons,  who  had  died  ten  days  before  in  a  re- 
mote district.  I  now  knew  the  reason  for  her  travelling  through 
the  storm.  The  return  journey  must  have  been  even  more  sad 
for  her. 

The  sunless  day  was  passed  driving  mile  after  mile  in  the 
teeth  of  biting  sleet  and  hail.  My  face  was  frost-bitten,  my 
hands  were  chapped,  and  altogether  I  suffered  severely  from 
the  cold,  relieved  only  when  we  halted  at  a  post-house  for 
a  change  of  horses.  I  did  not,  however,  mind  the  discom- 
forts so  much  as  might  be  expected,  since  something  new  was 
constantly  occurring  in  this  desolate  region  shrouded  in  snow, 
1  The  Persian  camel  bell  dongs  rather  than  dings. 


22      ERIVAN  AND    THE   ROAD    TO    THE  PERSIAN  BORDER 

and  I  enjoyed  the  novelty  of  the  experiences.  Once  a  wolf 
skulked  across  the  plain  near  our  path,  but  it  was  too  dark 
for  a  shot,  and  he  disappeared  into  the  gloom. 

We  travelled  on  through  the  night  until  we  reached  Nakhi- 
chavan,  or  Nakhjavan,  where  there  was  a  chance  for  a  slight 
rest.  This  place  was  known  to  the  Greek  geographer  Ptolemy, 
in  the  second  century  A.D.,  as  Naxouana1 ;  but  it  lays  claim  to 
far  greater  antiquity,  since  tradition  and  popular  etymology 
make  it  '  Noah's  first  station '  (Armenian  nakh-ijevari)  after  he 
came  from  the  ark,  and  his  reputed  tomb  is  shown  as  a  sacred 
shrine.2  Ibn  Haukal,  among  others,  mentions  Nakhjavan  in 
the  tenth  century  of  our  era,  and  Yakut,  two  hundred  years 
later,  tells  something  of  its  history,3  for  events  of  considerable 
moment  have  taken  place  there,  and  we  know  that,  situated  near 
the  river  Aras,  it  has  been  several  times  the  scene  of  bloody 
encounters  between  warring  armies.4  Ridiculously  enough,  my 
recollections  of  Nakhichavan  are  chiefly  associated  with  the 
excellent  bread  I  found  at  the  rest-house,  in  contrast  to  the 
Persian  bread  on  which  I  had  afterward  to  subsist.  Finally, 
in  the  forenoon  of  Saturday,  March  14,  I  reached  Julfa,  on  the 
Aras,  the  ancient  Araxes.  In  the  classic  writers  this  river  was 
proverbial  for  its  swift  current,  whose  rushing  descent  from  the 
Armenian  mountains  carried  away  the  bridges  in  the  winter 
time,  so  that  Vergil  calls  it  '  the  stream  intolerant  of  any  span ' 
— pontem  indignatus  Araxes.5  The  river  is  now  the  boundary 
between  Persia  and  Russia,  although  historically  the  confines 
of  Iran  have  always  extended  far  beyond  the  Aras. 

At  Julfa  an  incident  occurred  in  connection  with  the  Rus- 
sian export  customs  for  which  I  was  not  prepared.  The  cus- 
toms officers  when  examining  my  baggage  kept  asking  only  one 

1  Ptolemy,  Geog.  5.  13  (941).  8  Ibn  Haukal,  p.  165  ;  Yakut,  tr. 

2  See  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  47  ;      Barbier   de    Meynard,   pp.  561,   665, 
Perkins,  Eight  Years  in  Persia,  p.  134,      n.  1. 

Andover,  1843  ;  and,  on  the  fanciful  4  Cf.  Lynch,  Armenia,  1.  345. 

etymology,  consult  Hubschmann,  IF.  6  Vergil,  ^Eneid,  8.  728. 

16.  465. 


CROSSING    THE  ARAS  23 

question,  but  I  did  not  understand  Russian,  nor  did  they 
know  either  French,  German,  or  English.  The  inspection 
came  to  a  standstill,  therefore,  until  old  Rustom,  who  had  not 
previously  been  allowed  to  enter  the  customs  lines,  was  sum- 
moned. In  answer  to  the  inspector's  query  he  promptly  as- 
serted that  I  was  not  carrying  arms,  to  which  I  responded  as 
promptly  that  I  had  a  revolver  at  my  belt.  My  straightforward 
reply  cost  me  the  pistol,  as  a  new  tariff  law  forbade  the  export- 
ing of  firearms  to  Persia ;  but  my  honesty  was  repaid  by  my 
not  having  to  see  the  weapon  confiscated,  and  permission  was 
gran  ted*  me  to  send  it  back  to  Tiflis  by  Rustom.  The  person 
to  whom  I  consigned  it  afterward  presented  the  weapon  to  an 
American  missionary  whose  revolver  had  been  stolen  on  a 
journey.  I  parted  with  the  pistol  with  regret,  and  afterward 
when  alone  in  remote  places  in  Persia  I  several  times  missed 
this  steel  companion  with  heart  of  lead. 

The  customs  examination  being  finished,  I  said  good-by  to 
Rustom,  since  he  could  accompany  me  no  farther,  being  a 
Russian  subject  and  therefore  not  allowed  to  leave  the  Tsar's 
kingdom  without  permission.  I  had  to  cross  the  Aras  alone. 
Standing  on  the  shore  and  awaiting  some  means  of  transport,  I 
felt  with  Troilus  4  like  a  strange  soul  upon  the  Stygian  bank, 
staying  for  waftage.'  Charon's  boat,  which  was  to  ferry  me 
over  this  Persian  Styx,  arrived  at  last.  It  came  in  the  form  of 
a  rude  scow  made  of  coarse  planks  knocked  together  in  the 
roughest  possible  fashion.  Fiends  clamoring  for  obols  held  the 
oars,  dropping  them  eagerly  to  grasp  bakhshish  or  clenching 
the  fist  to  demand  more.  Fortunately  the  crossing  was 
quickly  effected,  and  when  we  reached  the  Iranian  '  Lethe's 
wharf '  I  quite  forgot  the  dark  past,  remembering  only  the  joy 
of  awakening  in  the  longed-for  paradise  of  the  Province  of  the 
Sun. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PERSIA,  THE  LAND  AND  ITS  HISTORY,  AND  OUR  INTEREST 
IN  THE  COUNTRY 

*  What  have  we  to  do 
With  Kaikobad  the  Great,  or  Kaikhosrii?  ' 

—  FITZGERALD,  liubaiyat  of  Omar  Khayyam,  10. 

4  MY  father's  kingdom,'  said  Cyrus  the  Younger,  <•  extends  so 
far  to  the  south  that  men  cannot  live  there  because  of  the 
heat,  and  northward  to  where  they  cannot  exist  because  of  the 
cold.'1  This  proud  boast  may  be  taken  almost  literally,  for 
Persia  is  a  land  of  extremes,  from  the  frigid  winters  of  the 
high  altitudes  of  Azarbaijan  to  the  torrid  summers  of  the 
Persian  Gulf  ;  but  the  climate  in  the  interior  as  a  whole  is 
temperate  when  we  consider  the  latitude  —  Shiraz,  for  example, 
being  farther  south  than  Lahore  in  upper  India.  This  fact 
is  sometimes  lost  sight  of. 

Geographically  the  country  of  Persia  is  a  great  tableland  - 
the  plateau  of  Iran  —  which  extends  beyond  its  eastern  bor- 
ders into  Afghanistan  and  covers  altogether  an  area  nearly 
I  one-fifth  as  large  as  the  United  States.  Mountains  with  rocky 
passes  guard  the  approach  at  almost  every  point  of  the  frontier 
and  run  their  barriers  into  the  interior  to  hold  back  the  great 
deserts  which  threaten  to  invade  from  the  east.  A  part  of  the 
vast  tableland  is  well  watered,  but  there  are  no  rivers  in  Persia 
that  are  worthy  of  the  name,  and  most  of  them  lose  their  streams 
in  the  soil  before  becoming  tributary  to  other  bodies.  In  many 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  therefore,  owing  to  the  dearth  of  water, 
it  is  necessary  to  resort  to  irrigation  in  order  to  convert  other- 

1  Xenophon,  Anabasis,  1.  7.  6. 
24 


THE  DIEULAFOY  FRIEZE  OF  ARCHERS  FROM  SUSA 


ONE   OF   THE   GREAT  NATIONS   OF  ANTIQUITY  25 

wise  arid  districts  into  arable  lands  or  to  prevent  them  from 
sinking  back  into  barren  wastes.  Irrigation  was  synonymous 
with  righteousness  in  the  old  Zoroastrian  religion,  and  agricul- 
ture a  religious  duty.  The  soil  of  the  country  responds  rap- 
idly to  tillage,  and  there  are  districts  in  Persia  which  are 
accounted  among  the  most  fertile  in  the  world. 

Over  this  wide  and  varied  expanse  of  territory  there  is 
spread  a  population  which  is  estimated  at  more  than  ten  million 
souls.  The  number  is  not  large  for  the  area  occupied,  and 
Persia  is  not  counted  as  a  densely  settled  country.  Ethnologi- 
cally  the  people  are  of  Aryan  stock,  but  they  show  an  admix- 
ture of  foreign  blood  introduced  by  conquest  or  due  to  contact 
with  border  nations.  This  latter  is  especially  true  in  the  case 
of  the  strong  infusion  of  Turkish  and  Tartar  blood  in  the  north- 
west and  northeast.  In  general  the  inhabitants  of  Farsistan, 
the  original  Persis,  have  remained  freest  from  foreign  elements 
and  have  preserved  more  nearly  the  Persian  type  of  Darius, 
who  boasts  in  his  inscription  that  he  is  c  a  Persian,  the  son  of 
a  Persian,  an  Aryan  and  of  Aryan  blood.' 1  Purest  of  all,  per- 
haps, though  few  in  number,  are  the  Zoroastrians,  who  have 
maintained  the  old  Iranian  religion  and  have  never  intermar- 
ried with  alien  races. 

Historically  Persia  is  one  of  the  great  nations  of  antiquity. 
Of  all  the  Eastern  countries  which  came  into  contact  with 
Greece  and  Rome,  Persia  alone  has  preserved  her  indepen- 
dence. Her  monarchs  have  been  rulers  for  three  thousand 
years,  and  the  Shah  on  the  Peacock  Throne  to-day  may  boast 
his  claim  as  inheritor  of  King  Jamshid's  legendary  rule  as 
well  as  the  sceptre  of  the  Median  Deioces  and  the  crown  of 
Cyrus  the  Great. 

Bactria,  Media,  and  Persia  were  the  three  historic  kingdoms 

of   Iran.     Bactria,  whose  dynasties  are  partly  legendary,  was 

subjugated   by   Media   after   the   latter,   under    Deioces,   had 

thrown  off  the  Assyrian  yoke  about  B.C.  708.     Phraortes,  his 

1  Inscr.  Nakhsh-i  Rustam,  a  13-15. 


26  PERSIA,   THE  LAND   AND   ITS  HISTORY 

son  and  successor  (B.C.  647-625),  and  Cyaxares,  his  grandson 
(B.C.  625-585) ,  were  wise  and  powerful  rulers,  extending  the  sway 
of  Media  as  far  as  Egypt ;  but  Astyages,  the  son  of  Cyaxares, 
proved  a  feeble  monarch,  and  Media  forfeited  her  supremacy. 
The  province  of  Persia,  led  by  Cyrus,  revolted  against  her  ; 
Astyages  was  defeated  in  battle,  and  Cyrus  became  king  of  the 
united  Medo-Persian  empire  (B.C.  558-530),  and  founder  of  the 
Achsemenian  dynasty.  Then  followed  Cambyses,  his  mad  son, 
whose  misrule  lasted  for  eight  years,  ending  in  death  by  his 
own  hand  (B.C.  522)  on  the  way  back  from  Egypt  to  recover 
his  crown,  which  had  been  seized  by  a  Magian  priest,  Gaumata, 
called  Smerdis  the  Usurper,  from  his  impersonating  the  king's 
dead  brother.  The  imposture  was  discovered,  and  the  false 
Smerdis  was  slain  by  Darius  Hystaspes,  who  now  ascended  the 
throne  (B.C.  522).  This  able  monarch  reorganized  the  empire 
on  broad  and  far-reaching  lines  and  ruled  with  great  ability 
for  more  than  thirty  years  (B.C.  522-486).  Signs  of  weakness 
had  already  shown  themselves,  however,  in  the  unsuccessful 
attempt  of  Darius  to  invade  Greece,  but  these  marks  of  de- 
cadence became  more  and  more  manifest  in  the  reigns  of  Xerxes 
and  Artaxerxes,  until  the  tottering  throne  of  the  Achsemenidse 
fell  when  Darius  III  (Codomannus)  was  conquered  by  Alexan- 
der the  Great  and  afterward  perished  (B.C.  323).  The  Grecian 
arms  thus  proved  triumphant  over  the  Persians  within  the 
borders  of  Iran,  as  they  already  had  at  Marathon,  Salamis,  and 
Platsea. 

The  invasion  and  partial  subjugation  of  Persia  by  Alexander 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Grseco-Bactrian  govern- 
ment of  the  Seleucidae,  which  lasted  for  seventy  years  and  was 
followed  by  the  Parthian  dynasty,  which  ruled  the  fortunes  of 
Persia  for  five  centuries  (B.C.  250-A.D.  226).  They  in  turn 
yielded  to  the  triumphant  ascendancy  of  the  Iranian  house  of 
Sasan,  who  restored  the  Zoroastrian  faith  as  state  religion  and 
dreamed  of  forming  a  great  national  power.  Their  rule  lasted 
over  four  centuries  (A.D.  226-651),  but  their  hope  of  establish- 


DARIUS   III   DEFEATED   BY   ALEXANDER   IN   THE   BATTLE   OF   ISSUS 

(Pompeian  Mosaic  in  the  Naples  Museum) 


YAZDAGARD  III  SLAIN  IN  A  MILL  AT  MERV 
(From  the  Columbia  University  Manuscript  of  the  Shah  Namah) 


r*mAi*5 

O^  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

r»r 


FROM  CYRUS  TO  THE  PRESENT  SHAH          27 

ing  a  world -empire  was  shattered  by  the  Arab  invasion,  which 
resulted  in  the  conquest  of  Persia  and  the  overthrow  of  the 
Zoroastrian  dynasty  of  the  Sasanidse,  A.D.  651.  With  the 
death  of  Yazdagard  III,  who  was  treacherously  slain  in  that 
year  after  being  defeated  in  battle,  the  Sasanid  line  came  to 
an  end,  the  Zoroastrian  faith,  which  had  been  the  state  re- 
ligion for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  was  deposed,  and  Islam 
took  its  place  as  the  national  religion  of  Iran. 

The  centuries  which  followed  were  often  marked  by  mis- 
rule, invasion,  and  even  foreign  rule.  A  succession  of  longer 
or  shorter  lived  dynasties,  like  the  Ommiads  (A.D.  661- 
749),  Abbasids  (749-847),  Ghaznavids  (961-1186),  Seljuks 
(about  1030-1200),  the  Mongols  under  Jenghiz  Khan  (1162- 
1227)  and  under  his  grandson  Hulagu  (d.  1265),  who  main- 
tained his  court  at  Maraghah,  and  the  Tartars  under  Timur 
Lang  (d.  1405)  and  his  successors,  fill  the  pages  of  Persia's 
history  until  the  fifteenth  century.  At  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth, Persia  saw  the  rise  of  a  great  sovereign,  Shah  Abbas 
(1585-1628),  who  wielded  the  sceptre  alike  with  regal  power 
and  magnificence,  and  at  his  court  representatives  of  Euro- 
pean potentates  were  received  and  entertained  with  pomp. 
His  successors  unfortunately  proved  inferior  in  ability,  and 
the  Afghans  invaded  Persia  in  the  eighteenth  century  and 
contributed  to  the  general  disorganization  that  lasted  until 
about  the  year  1789.  The  Kajar  dynasty  was  then  established 
by  Agha  Mohammed  Shah,  the  eunuch  monarch,  who  was 
succeeded  by  his  nephew  Fath  Ali  Shah  (1798),  and  he  in 
turn  by  Mohammed  Shah  (1835),  and  this  line  has  held  the 
Persian  throne  ever  since. 

The  scope  of  this  book  does  not  permit  my  touching  upon 
the  past  or  present  relations  between  Persia  and  the  Occident, 
or  making  any  forecasts  as  to  the  future.  I  shall  also  forego 
saying  anything  about  the  social  institutions  of  modern  Persia 
as  compared  with  ancient  Iran.  In  religion,  however,  Persia 
has  played  so  important  a  part,  a  part  not  wholly  laid  aside, 


28  PERSIA,    THE  LAND   AND  ITS  HISTORY 

that  some  idea  of  her  religious  history  must  be  given  in  order 
to  make  clear  many  points  in  the  chapters  which  follow. 

Zoroastrianism  was  the  ancient  faith  of  Iran  and  is  impor- 
tant because  of  the  likenesses  which  it  presents  to  Judaism  and 
Christianity.1  A  phase  of  this  religion  known  as  Mithraism 
penetrated  into  the  Roman  world  during  the  early  Christian 
ages  and  spread  so  rapidly  in  many  parts  of  Europe  that  altars 
were  set  up  and  cave-temples  built  to  celebrate  the  mysteries 
of  the  Persian  divinity  Mithra  and  to  glorify  this  personi- 
fication of  light,  the  sun,  and  truth.  Furthermore,  the  sys- 
tem of  Manichaeism,  which  sprang  up  on  Persian  soil,  was 
powerful  enough  to  compete  for  a  time  with  Neo-Platonism 
and  Christianity  for  the  religious  and  intellectual  supremacy 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  Mohammedanism  is  the  religion  of 
Persia  to-day,  as  she  accepted  Islam  at  the  time  of  the  Arab 
conquest,  but  Persia  belongs  to  the  Shiite  sect  of  the  faith  and 
acknowledges  Ali,  Mohammed's  first  cousin  and  son-in-law, 
as  the  Prophet's  successor  in  opposition  to  the  Sunnite  branch 
of  Islam.  She  is  in  fact  the  chief  representative  of  Shiism  and 
has  been  largely  instrumental  in  the  growth  of  this  factional 
movement  which  divides  the  Mohammedan  world  with  a  bloody 
schism.  In  Persia,  moreover,  within  the  last  seventy  years  a 
new  religious  movement,  eclectic  in  its  character  and  known 
as  Babism,  has  sprung  up  and  assumed  such  proportions  as  to 
menace  the  universal  supremacy  of  Mohammedanism  in  Iran 
and  even  to  attract  attention  and  some  followers  in  the 
Occident. 

In  art  and  architecture  Persia  is  renowned  for  the  grandeur 
of  some  of  her  ancient  monuments  and  for  the  beauty  and 
decorative  design  of  much  of  her  later  work.  In  both  these 
fields  she  is  believed  to  have  borrowed  in  early  times  largely 
from  Assyria  and  Babylon  and  slightly  from  Egypt,  and  later 
also  from  Greece,  Rome,  and  Byzantium,  as  well  as  somewhat 
from  China.  Nevertheless  she  has  dealt  with  the  importations 
i  See  pp.  57-69,  below. 


THE  PORTAL  OF  XERXES  AT  PERSEPOLIS 


OF  TH. 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


RELIGION,  ARCHITECTURE,   AND   LANGUAGE  29 

freely,  added  much,  and  made  the  production  so  character- 
istically her  own  as  often  to  bring  forth  a  new  creation ;  and 
if  she  has  accepted  gifts  in  artistic  lines  from  China,  it  was 
only  in  part  return  for  generous  loans  previously  made  to 
Chinese  art  by  herself. 

In  the  domain  of  linguistics  there  are  a  number  of  points 
which  are  interesting  to  consider  in  connection  with  Persia. 
For  the  older  languages  I  need  only  refer  to  the  contributions 
which  were  made  to  comparative  philology,  as  well  as  religion 
and  history,  when  the  Zoroastrian  scriptures  were  discovered 
and  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  deciphered.  The  study  of  the// 
Pahlavi,  or  Middle  Persian,  texts,  inscriptions,  coins,  and  gems 
has  yielded  valuable  results  for  general  history  as  well  as  for 
linguistic  science.  The  modern  language  of  Persia  has  an 
interest  even  for  the  student  of  English  who  is  not  an 
Iranian  specialist,  because  the  loss  of  inflections  and  the 
admixture  of  Arabic  words  in  Modern  Persian,  due  to  the 
Mohammedan  conquest,  may  be  paralleled  with  similar  phe- 
nomena in  our  own  tongue  with  its  levelled  case-endings, 
analytic  structure,  and  its  vast  infusion  of  words  brought  in 
by  the  Norman  invasion.  In  the  matter  of  linguistic  purity 
and  the  avoidance  of  foreign  words  in  a  national  epic,  Firdausi's 
Shah  Namah,  Book  of  Kings  (A.D.  1000),  affords  an  excellent 
parallel  to  Layamon's  poetic  chronicle,  the  Brut  (A.D.  1200). 
The  Iranian  poet  is  as  free  from  the  contamination  of  Arabic 
words,  which  later  became  fashionable,  as  the  British  bard 
from  elements  of  Norman-French  origin. 

Our  ordinary  vocabulary  of  to-day  owes  something  to 
Persia.1  So  common  a  word  as  van,  a  heavy  vehicle,  is  an 
abbreviation  of  caravan  (which  has  been  etymologized  in  the 
folk-speech  as  '  carry-van '),  and  is  as  Persian  as  Shah,  tiara, 

1 1  am  indebted  for  suggestions  to  Breslau,  1900.     See  also   Skeat,  Ety- 

the  sketch   by   my   friend,    Professor  mological  Dictionary,  p.  759,  Oxford, 

Horn,    Was   verdanken   wir   Persien,  1882  ;  and  my  address  in  Congress  of 

in  Nord  und   Sild,  Heft  282,  p.  379,  Arts  and  Science,  St.  Louis,  1904. 


30  PERSIA,    THE  LAND   AND   ITS  HISTORY 

bakhshish,  and  magic  (from  Magi).  The  Persian  term  bazaar 
is  current  in  English,  and  shawls,  sashes,  awnings,  turquoises, 
and  taffeta  are  standard  articles  in  our  linguistic  stock  in  trade 
as  the  goods  themselves  in  our  markets.  Products  so  common 
in  America  as  the  orange,  lemon,  melon,  and  peach  (the  last 
word  being  a  disguised  form  of  the  Latin  malum  Persicum, 
which  has  come  to  us  through  the  French)  are  Iranian  in  name 
as  well  as  in  origin.  |  The  vegetable  spinach  is  Persian,  and  the 
word  asparagus  also  traces  its  lineage  apparently  through  the 
Greek  ao-Trdpayos  ultimately  to  Avestan  sparegha, 4  shoot,  stalk.' 
I  must  add,  however,  that  this  vegetable  has  gained  much  in 
delicacy  by  being  transplanted  to  the  West,  if  I  may  judge  by 
the  asparagus  which  now  grows  in  Persia.  The  list  of  our 
linguistic  indebtedness  might  be  increased  by  including  a  score 
of  words  like  julep  (familiar  in  'mint  julep'),  which  is  really 
an  arabicized  form  of  the  Persian  guldb,  4  rose-water ' ;  hazard, 
applied  to  taking  the  one  chance  in  a  '  thousand '  (Pers. 
hazdr)  ;  and  last  but  not  least,  Paradise,  which  has  come  to  us 
from  Persian  through  the  Greek,  while  gul  and  bulbul,  the 
Persian  'nightingale  and  rose,'  are  familiar  to  all  readers  of 
Eastern  poetry. 

The  title  of  Persian  literature  to  a  place  among  the  great 
literatures  of  the  world  is  a  recognized  one,  and  it  is  in  this 
domain  perhaps  that  Persia  makes  the  greatest  claim  upon  our 
interest.  In  age  the  Avesta  and  the  Old  Persian  Inscriptions 
carry  us  back  at  least  to  the  sixth  century  before  Christ  and 
possibly  earlier ;  the  Pahlavi  literature  belongs  to  the  Sasanian 
period  from  the  third  to  the  sixth  century  after  Christ ;  and 
the  Modern  Persian  began  within  the  last  thousand  years.  It 
sprang  up  a  century  or  two  after  the  Arab  conquest  as  a  re- 
naissance movement  with  the  revival  of  the  old  national  feeling  ; 
and  this  period  is  certainly  the  most  interesting  of  all.  Some 
knowledge  of  Firdausi,  Saadi,  and  Hafiz  belongs  to  true  cul- 
ture, and  Omar  Khayyam  has  become  an  English  classic 
through  FitzGerald's  version.  The  less-known  names  of  the 


THE  PORTAL  OF  XERXES  AT  PERSEPOLIS 


PERSIAN  LITERATURE  31 

romantic  poetic  Nizami,  the  dervish  Jalal  ad-Din  Rumi,  and 
the  mystic  Jami  (d.  1492),  the  last  classic  poet  of  Persia, 
should  be  mentioned  as  deserving  to  be  known  to  lovers  of 
literature. 

Little  space  remains  for  writing  about  the  influence  of  Persia 
upon  our  own  poetry.  Persia  was  hardly  known  to  England 
before  the  sixteenth  century,  yet  Chaucer  alludes  to  Persian 
blue,  '  pers,'  in  the  Prologue.  Among  the  Elizabethans,  Pres- 
ton dramatized  the  story  of  4  Cambises,'  Marlowe  has  Persian 
names  and  Persian  scenes  in  his  Tamburlaine,  and  Shakspere 
alludes  to  4  Persian  attire  '  in  King  Lear,  to  4  a  Persian  prince ' 
in  Merchant  of  Venice,  and  to  a  voyage  to  Persia  in  his 
Comedy  of  Errors.  Milton  summarizes  the  early  history  of 
Persia  in  the  third  book  of  his  Paradise  Regained,  besides 
referring  to  '  Ecbatan,'  '  Hispahan,'  4  Tauris,'  and  4  Casbeen '  in 
Paradise  Lost.  Shelley  appears  to  have  a  faint  reminiscence 
of  the  pillared  halls  at  Persepolis  in  his  Alastor,  and  Byron  in 
the  G-iaour  and  Landor  in  the  Grebir  hark  back  to  the  old 
Zoroastrian  faith  of  Iran.  Matthew  Arnold  and  Edmund 
Gosse,  as  poetical  writers,  came  under  Firdausi's  spell,  and  a 
dozen  other  instances  might  be  mentioned  where  Persia  has 
influenced  English  poets,  one  of  the  best  known  being  Tom 
Moore,  whose  Lalla  Rookh  is  full  of  the  melody,  perfume,  color, 
beauty,  tenderness,  and  tremulous  ecstasy  which  imagination 
associates  with  the  East. 

In  the  realm  of  English  prose  the  two  volumes  of  Persian 
Tales  by  Ambrose  Philips,  after  a  French  version,  were  widely 
read  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the 
familiar  Arabian  Nights  are  really  largely  Persian.  The  inimi- 
table Persian  novel  Hajji  Baba  of  Isfahan,  by  Morier,  is  so 
thoroughly  Oriental  that  Persians  who  read  English  mistake 
it  for  a  serious  composition  and  take  umbrage  at  some  of  its 
amusing  accounts.  One  of  our  American  contemporaries, 
moreover,  the  novelist  Marion  Crawford,  chose  Zoroaster  as  a 
character  around  which  to  weave  a  romantic  story.  To  these 


32  PERSIA,    THE  LAND   AND  ITS  HISTORY 

examples  I  might  add  dozens  of  others  if  I  chose  to  go  outside 
of  English  and  speak  of  the  influence  of  Persia  upon  French, 
German,  and  other  European  literatures.  I  shall  restrict  my- 
self, however,  and  return  to  my  main  theme,  resuming  tht 
journey  through  the  country  whose  history  and  position  in  the 
world  I  have  briefly  sketched. 


THE  PERSIAN  INN  AT  JULFA,  WITH  THE  CUSTOM  HOUSE  ON  THE  LEFT 


A  PART  OF  THE  '  ROAD  '  BETWEEN  JULFA  AND  MARAND 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


CHAPTER  V 
THROUGH  THE   SNOW  FROM   THE   ARAS  TO   TABRIZ 

'  They  proceeded  thence  all  the  next  day  through  the  snow. ' 

—  XENOPHON,  Anabasis,  4.  5.  7. 

IMMEDIATELY  after  crossing  the  Aras  at  Julfa  I  had  to 
proceed  to  the  custom  house.  There  I  was  received  by  the 
Director  of  the  Persian  Customs,  a  Belgian  gentleman,  who 
was  in  charge  of  the  frontier  at  this  point.  After  scanning 
my  letters  of  introduction  and  my  official  papers,  he  made  an 
inquiry  only  as  to  whether  I  carried  arms  and  ammunition. 
I  told  about  the  episode  across  the  river  with  my  revolver. 
When  the  formalities  were  over,  he  extended  to  me  a  cordial 
invitation  to  be  his  guest  at  dinner  that  evening,  an  invitation 
which  I  gladly  promised  to  accept  as  soon  as  I  could  dispose 
of  my  luggage  at  the  Persian  rest-house  across  the  way. 

This  lodging-place  was  a  'house  founded  literally  upon  the 
sand,  for  it  was  built  near  the  low  bank  of  the  Aras ;  it  was 
long,  but  not  deep,  had  two  stories  and  fairly  large  rooms,  a 
double  veranda  across  the  front,  and  a  flag-pole  on  top  —  the 
latter  a  mark  of  Western  influence.  About  the  entrance  were 
strewn  bales  of  cotton,  which  a  caravan  had  just  unloaded,  and 
in  the  rear  was  the  camel  train.  The  dromedaries  were  being 
quartered  for  the  night  in  the  open.  They  were  forced  to 
kneel  down  in  a  circle  around  a  bundle  of  fodder,  which 
helped  to  keep  them  in  order.  The  shouts,  kicks,  blows,  and 
punches  of  the  drivers,  which  accompanied  this  proceeding,  called 
forth  a  score  of  inarticulate  growls,  protests,  and  objections  on 
the  part  of  the  camels.  It  was  fortunate  perhaps  that  I  did 
not  understand  either  camel  language  or  camel-driver  jargon. 
*>  33 


34         THROUGH  THE  SNOW  FROM   THE  ARAS    TO    TABRIZ 

At  the  telegraph  office  adjoining  the  rest-house  I  received 
a  message  from  the  head  of  the  American  Christian  Mission 
at  Tabriz  saying  he  had  despatched  an  Armenian  servant  to 
meet  me,  and  sent  a  wagon  drawn  by  four  horses,  with  a 
Turkish  driver  named  Meshad  Seyid  Ullah.  I  welcomed  this 
assurance  of  a  conveyance  to  take  me  to  Tabriz,  found  my 
attendants  had  arrived,  and  then  enjoyed  a  delightful  evening 
with  my  host,  who  gave  me  much  information  regarding  the 
route  over  which  I  was  to  travel.  I  rested  well  in  my  Persian 
quarters  except  at  intervals  when  the  camels  set  up  a  cry  of 
protest  against  some  wrong,  real  or  imaginary. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  next  morning  before  I  succeeded  in  get- 
ting everything  ready  to  start  on  what  proved  to  be  a  two 
days'  journey  through  the  snow,  and  altogether  the  worst  expe- 
rience I  had  yet  encountered ;  but  when  travelling  in  Persia  we 
become  accustomed  to  discomforts  and  inconveniences  which 
otherwise  would  seem  unbearable.  Two  quotations  from 
Hamlet  kept  recurring  to  my  mind:  one  was,  4the  hand  of 
little  employment  hath  the  daintier  sense  ; '  the  other,  4  thus 
bad  begins,  but  worse  remains  behind '  —  and  worse  did  remain 
behind. 

For  part  of  the  first  day  the  route  was  through  the  exposed 
bed  of  a  river  filled  with  boulders  of  stone  and  blocks  of  ice. 
Now  we  were  sinking  in  the  water,  next  plunging  into  a  snow- 
bank, and  again  extricating  the  wagon  from  a  deep  gulch. 
The  mud  on  the  side  hills  was  nearly  up  to  the  hubs,  so  there 
was  no  chance  for  progress  with  a  vehicle  there  ;  nevertheless 
I  was  glad  to  climb  up  on  the  heights  for  a  while,  and  try  walk- 
ing, in  order  to  lighten  the  load  for  the  struggling  horses  below. 

At  distant  intervals  along  the  trail  there  were  mud  cabins 
which  served  as  tea-houses  (chdi  Jchdnah).  These  gave  a  wel- 
come excuse  for  a  halt  and  refreshment.  The  tea  was  good, 
but  dirt  was  plentiful,  yet  I  soon  began  to  be  accustomed  to 
that,  for  the  descent  to  Avernus  is  easy.  The  delays  in  getting 
started  again  were  exasperating,  and  I  had  to  keep  incessantly 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


MOUNTAIN  VILLAGE  BURIED  IN  SNOW  BETWEEN  MARAND  AND  SOFIAN 


MISHAPS  ON   THE    WAY  35 

urging,  scolding,  begging,  and  bribing  the  driver  to  make  haste 
in  order  to  reach  Maraud  that  night.  The  device  of  the  bribe 
proved  the  more  effective,  and  resulted  in  a  series  of  lashes, 
plied  savagely  upon  the  tired  horses  and  accompanied  by  a 
succession  of  encouraging  shouts,  whistles,  grunts,  cries, 
squeals,  yells,  and  chirrups,  infinite  in  variety,  but  of  endless 
weariness,  and  alternating  with  the  humming  of  a  tune  which 
might  have  been  the  Turkish  equivalent  of  that  of  which  the 
old  cow  died. 

We  managed  to  keep  fairly  well  in  the  caravan  trail  (I  can- 
not call  it  a  road),  but  once  in  the  darkness  we  lost  it,  and  a 
violent  collision  with  a  telegraph  pole  was  the  result.  Fortu- 
nately only  the  harness  was  broken,  not  our  bones.  After 
making  repairs  we  proceeded  tolerably  until  the  village  of 
Marand  was  reached  ;  there  on  the  bank  of  a  stream  the  wagon 
suddenly  upset,  and  I  was  sent  sprawling  into  the  mud,  amid 
bags,  boxes,  and  bundles.  The  only  thing  to  do  was  to  take 
the  matter  good-naturedly  and  laugh  ;  this  cheered  the  situa- 
tion immediately,  and  the  villagers  came  out  in  a  friendly 
manner  from  their  simple  homes,  helped  me  to  replace  my 
scattered  belongings,  and  guided  us  to  a  place  of  lodging. 

The  upper  room  where  I  spent  the  night  was  fairly  comfort- 
able, thanks  to  a  blazing  fire,  but  the  heat  had  the  disadvan- 
tage of  bringing  out  from  the  cracks  and  crevices  scores  of  huge 
vermin,  descendants,  perhaps,  of  the  noxious  khrafstras  of  the 
Avesta.  I  slept  soundly,  nevertheless,  for  a  journey  of  eleven 
hours  is  conducive  to  weariness,  although  the  distance  covered, 
despite  all  my  efforts,  was  only  forty-five  miles. 

As  a  place,  Marand  is  no  longer  of  any  consequence,  although 
it  was  once  an  important  town.  Yakut  says  that  even  in  his 
time,  seven  centuries  ago,  it  was  partly  abandoned  and  falling 
into  ruins  because  of  the  ravages  of  the  Turkish  tribes  who 
swept  down  upon  it,  carrying  off  the  inhabitants  and  leaving 
desolation  in  their  wake.1  It  is  clear  from  his  account  that 

i  Yakut,  p.  524. 


36    THROUGH  THE  SNOW  FROM  THE  ARAS  TO  TABRIZ 

religiously  Maraud  must  have  been  a  stronghold  of  Islam  at  his 
time,  and  no  longer  Zoroastrian,  as  he  states  that  it  was  the 
birthplace  of  a  number  of  eminent  Mohammedan  teachers.  At 
the  time  of  my  visit  I  did  not  know  that  at  Maraud  there  are 
the  remains  of  an  ash-hillock  which  is  believed  to  go  back  to  the 
days  of  Zoroastrian  fire-worship,  and,  like  the  mounds  at  Uru- 
miah,  to  owe  its  origin  to  a  vast  accretion  of  ashes  from  a 
fire-temple.  If  I  had  known  of  this  fact  at  the  time,  I  should 
have  examined  the  mound.  The  antiquity  of  the  town,  as  it 
was  once  the  capital  of  the  Sasanian  canton  of  Vaspurakan, 
would  favor  the  likelihood  of  a  reward  for  undertaking  exca- 
vations in  the  vicinity  for  Zoroastrian  researches  ;  but  as  far  as 
biblical  matters  are  concerned,  there  is  nothing  except  the  fan- 
ciful etymology  of  the  name  as  Mair-and,  4  the  Mother  is  there,' 
to  support  the  tradition  that  Noah's  wife  is  buried  at  Marand.1 
The  next  morning  the  weather  was  dull  and  dreary,  and  it 
was  nine  o'clock  before  I  could  start.  A  few  minutes  later  we 
were  crossing  a  ford  of  the  stream  on  whose  bank  the  wagon 
had  upset  the  night  before,  and  whose  water  we  had  drunk  for 
breakfast  with  the  assurance  that  it  was  'most  excellent' 
(db-i  Jchaill  khub).  I  now  saw  a  dead  cat  floating  on  its  sur- 
face and  the  villagers  washing  their  dirty  clothes  in  the  stream. 
A  short  drive  through  slush  and  mud,  after  crossing  the  ford, 
brought  us  to  the  foothills,  and  all  that  day  the  route  lay 
up  steep  mountains  and  down  into  deep  valleys,  although  the 
altitude  of  the  latter  was  rarely  less  than  four  thousand  feet 
above  sea-level,  as  the  tableland  is  high  at  this  point.  The 
mountain  scenery  looked  like  a  sea  of  gigantic  billows  raised 
by  some  Titan  storm  that  had  torn  up  its  surface.  And  snow 
was  everywhere.  The  depth  of  the  snow  made  progress  very 
slow,  and  once  our  vehicle  became  hopelessly  stuck  in  a  huge 
drift,  and  I  had  to  pay  handsomely  for  extra  horses  to  pull 
it  out.  The  country  was  sparsely  settled,  and  many  of  the 

1  On  the  name  Marand  see  the  ar-      ischen    Ortsnamen,  in    IF.    16.    347, 
tide  by   Hiibschmann,  Die  altarmen-      451. 


MARAND   AND   SOFIAN,  HISTORIC  PLACES  37 

hamlets  were  buried  in  the  snow,  one  or  two  on  the  mountain- 
side (like  the  one  in  my  picture)  looking  as  if  their  occupants 
had  hibernated  all  winter,  so  completely  was  their  communica- 
tion cut  off.  Most  desolate  among  all  the  sights,  however, 
was  a  ruined  caravansarai,  which,  like  a  hundred  others  in 
Persia,  was  attributed  to  Shah  Abbas  the  Great  as  builder. 
The  magnificence  of  its  founder  and  the  former  splendor  of 
its  many  kingly  occupants,  in  contrast  with  its  present  ruinous 
condition,  struck  me  as  an  illustration  of  Omar  Khayyam's 
familiar  quatrain :  — 

'  Think,  in  this  batter'd  Caravanserai 
Whose  Portals  are  alternate  Night  and  Day, 

How  Sultan  after  Sultan  with  his  Pomp 
Abode  his  destined  Hour,  and  went  his  way.' 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  we  finally  drew  near  the 
village  of  Sofian,  or  Zofian,  which  had  been  the  scene  of  a  bloody 
battle  between  the  Turks  and  the  Persians  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  sixteenth  century.1  As  there  is  a  post-house  at  Sofian,  I 
proceeded  to  arrange  for  hiring  horses,  since  those  of  my 
driver  were  completely  fagged  out.  The  master  of  the  post, 
with  whom  I  had  to  bargain,  had  a  nose  shaped  like  a  carrot, 
and  evidently  Turanian  blood  in  his  veins ;  the  Persian  linea- 
ments seemed  to  be  almost  wanting  in  his  face.  In  his  man- 
ners, however,  he  was  kindly  ;  in  his  movements,  Orientally 
slow  ;  but  with  much  dignity  he  conducted  me  to  his  own  room, 
which  was  warm  and  comfortable  and  furnished  with  some 
good  rugs  and  divans.  Two  Persian  merchants  were  lolling 
on  cushions,  drinking  tea,  and  seemed  to  have  so  much  time 
at  their  disposal  that  they  were  willing  to  spend  more  of  it 
in  asking  questions  of  the  newly  arrived  farangl,  than  I  had 
time  to  spend  in  answering. 

A  start  was  made  at  last,  and  as  I  left  Sofian  I  got  a  good 
view  of  the  northeastern  shore  of  Lake  Urumiah  and  of  Mount 
Sahand.  Both  of  these  places  were  for  me  historic  landmarks, 
1  See  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  1.  219. 


38    THROUGH  THE  SNOW  FROM  THE  ARAS  TO  TABRIZ 

the  former  as  a  lake  which  Zoroaster  knew  well,  and  the  latter 
possibly,  I  believe,  as  Mount  Asnavand  of  the  Avesta,  on  which 
it  is  said  that  Zoroaster  beheld  a  vision  of  heaven  and  conversed 
with  Haurvatat,  the  guardian  angel  that  presides  over  waters.1 
To  me  the  sight  of  the  mountain  and  the  lake  was  a  joyful 
one,  because  I  felt  as  if  I  had  met  friends  whom  I  had  longed 
to  see ;  this  made  the  journey  for  the  remainder  of  the  day 
seem  shorter. 

It  was  between  eight  and  nine  in  the  evening  when  I  finally 
reached  Tabriz  and  found  a  welcome  at  the  mission  house. 
I  became  a  4  Fire- Worshipper '  in  earnest,  as  my  hosts  laugh- 
ingly said,  when  I  greeted  the  blazing  logs  whose  cheery  flame 
brought  back  the  blood  to  my  face,  which  had  been  cracked 
in  deep  gashes  by  the  cold.  I  had  been  for  two  full  days  on 
the  road  through  the  snow,  having  taken  all  that  time  to 
accomplish  a  journey  of  eighty-five  miles.  It  was  a  pleasant 
prospect  now  to  be  able  to  look  forward  to  a  rest  for  several 
days,  and  that  in  one  of  the  largest  of  the  cities  of  Persia. 

1  See  the  suggestions  in  my  Zoro-  identifications  may  be  suggested,  cf. 
aster,  pp.  48,  100,  207,  although  other  p.  141,  below. 


CHAPTER  VI 
TABRIZ,   THE  RESIDENCE  OF   THE   CROWN  PRINCE 

'  In  his  retreat  to  Tauris  or  Casbeen.  ' 

—  MILTON,  Paradise  Lost,  10.  435. 

TABRIZ,  the  residence  of  the  heir  apparent  to  the  Persian 
throne,  and  the  commercial  centre  of  Azarbaijan,  is  a  city 
whose  age  and  birthplace  are  not  known,  but  it  may  count  a 
thousand  years  as  but  a  fraction  of  its  life.  The  Persian  tra- 
dition which  ascribes  its  founding  to  Zobeidah,  the  wife  of 
Harun  al-Rashid  (better  known  as  the  Caliph  Haroun  Alra- 
schid  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  A.D.  800),  sets  its  date  too  late,  as 
in  the  case  of  Kashan  and  other  cities  which  are  said  to  have 
been  built  by  this  heroine.  It  is  true  that  a  fountain  at  Tabriz 
is  called  after  her  name,  but  the  city  can  be  shown  to  have 
existed  under  the  Sasanians,  four  centuries  before  her  time.1 

Tabriz  has  been  identified  with  the  ancient  Gaza,  Ganzaca, 
by  some  scholars,  but  this  identification  is  not  accurate,2  nor  are 
we  positive  that  it  was  formerly  called  Shahistan,'  King's-town,' 
by  the  Persians  and  had  its  name  changed  to  Tabriz  ('this 
revenge,'  ta-vrezJi)  by  the  Armenian  king  Khosru  I,  who  sacked 
the  city,  A.D.  346,  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  his  brother,  and 
then  called  the  place  i  this  revenge,'  a  name  which  the  city  has 


tradition    of    Zobeidah    as  to   Rev.  S.    G.  Wilson,  Persian  Life 

f6under  is  given  by  Mustaufi,  Nau-  and  Customs,  pp.  323-325,  New  York, 

zhat  al-Kulub    (A.D.    1340),    and    he  1895.     To  Mr.  Wilson,  who  was  my 

gives  the  Mohammedan  year   of  the  host  during  a  stay  of    five   days  in 

founding  as  A.H.  175  =  A.D.  790;  see  Tabriz,  I  am    indebted  for   much  in- 

Barbier  de   Meynard,  Diet.   geog.  de  formation  regarding  the  city. 

la  Perse,  p.  132,  n.  2.      For  a  sketch  2  For  the  more  likely  association  of 

of  the  history  of  Tabriz  I  would  refer  Gaza  with  Shiz,  see  p.  131,  below. 


40        TABRIZ,    THE   RESIDENCE   OF   THE   CROWN  PRINCE 

borne  ever  since  as  a  memorial  of  the  event.1  The  Persians 
again  recovered  possession  of  Tabriz  from  its  Armenian  con- 
querors, but  owing  to  its  exposed  position  on  the  frontier  the 
town  has  frequently  been  subjected  to  foreign  invasion  and  occu- 
pation, by  Arab,  Seljuk,  and  Mongol,  one  of  the  fiercest  of  the 
stormings  being  that  by  Timur  Lang  (Tamerlane),  who  sacked 
it  with  his  Tartar  hosts  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  Terrific  earthquakes  also  have  shattered  it  again 
and  again,  A.D.  858,  1041,  1721,  and  1780,  killing  thousands 
of  people  and  destroying  its  main  buildings.  Nevertheless 
the  city  has  maintained  its  position  as  a  great  Persian  metrop- 
olis, inherited  from  its  rank  as  a  capital  under  the  Mongols,  and 
has  enjoyed  prosperity  as  a  centre  of  trade  and  commerce,  so 
that  Tabriz  remains  to-day  what  the  Arab  traveller  Yakut 
called  it  when  he  visited  it  in  1203  (A.H.  610),  'the  principal 
city  of  Azarbaijan,  flourishing  and  well  populated.'2  The 
number  of  its  inhabitants  is  not  less  than  one  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand. 

A  view  of  the  city  is  disappointing  if  we  expect  to  find  lofty 
buildings  and  that  variety  of  color  which  we  associate  with  the 
Orient.  Instead  of  this,  there  is  a  monotonous  expanse  of  flat- 
roofed,  single-storied  houses,  broken  only  by  the  domed  arches 
of  the  bazaars  and  the  high  wall  of  the  ancient  citadel.  Clay 
and  mud  plaster,  for  the  most  part,  are  used  in  the  construction 
of  buildings,  and  these  give  a  dull  appearance  to  the  unimpos- 
ing  architecture.  The  houses,  with  windowless  outer  walls, 
turn  their  backs  on  the  street  and  show  their  faces  only  to  the 
exclusive  brick  courtyard  in  the  interior.  The  entrance  is  made 
through  an  unpainted  wooden  door,  studded  with  heavy  nails, 
like  the  portal  of  a  Norman  keep,  and  having  a  small  grating 
above  to  admit  light  and  air.  In  the  courtyard  we  may  find 
a  small  garden,  and,  if  so,  a  tank  for  preserving  that  precious 
commodity,  water ;  but  the  general  appearance  of  the  interior, 
like  its  unattractive  entrance,  is  not  such  as  to  lead  one  to 
1  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  323.  2  Yakut,  p.  132. 


THE   CITY  AND   ITS   GOVERNMENT  41 

suppose  how  handsomely  the  house  may  be  decorated  on  the 
inside  with  rugs,  old  tapestry,  pieces  of  Persian  armor,  and 
faience. 

As  we  walk  about  the  town  we  have  to  find  our  way  through 
a  labyrinth  of  streets,  narrow  passages,  and  side  alleys,  some  of 
the  latter  being  less  than  six  feet  wide,  and  ultimately  we  reach 
the  outskirts  of  the  city.  Walls  surround  Tabriz,  as  they 
have  from  the  earliest  times,  and  their  circuit  has  gradually 
increased  with  the  compass  of  the  town.  Gardens  border  these 
walls,  with  vineyards  and  orchards  lying  beyond,  and  Tabriz 
has  been  famous  for  its  fruits  and  vegetables  for  over  a  thou- 
sand years.1  But  there  was  little  to  suggest  this  abundance. 
The  suburbs,  when  I  saw  them,  were  buried  in  snow,  and  so 
also  were  low  hills  adjacent  to  the  plain  on  the  north  and 
northeast,  which  looked  dwarfed  in  comparison  with  the  heights 
of  Mount  Sahand  that  rise  to  an  altitude  of  nearly  twelve 
thousand  feet  on  the  south  and  are  clad  in  ermine  most  of  the 
year  round. 

As  a  municipality,  Tabriz  has  more  pretence  to  government 
than  any  other  Persian  city  except  Teheran,  although  there 
could  be  no  comparison,  of  course,  with  a  well  regulated  Euro- 
pean city  in  the  matter  of  efficiency.  Twenty-four  different 
wards  are  recognized,  each  managed  by  a  magistrate  (Jcad- 
khuda),  who  is  responsible  to  the  burgomaster  (bagldr-bagl), 
and  he  in  turn  to  the  governor  of  the  province  (hakim),  and 
thus  ultimately  answerable  to  the  Shah.2  The  streets  are 
generally  unpaved,  except  in  a  few  places  where  cobble-stones 
are  laid,  and  when  I  was  at  Tabriz  in  March,  little  attempt  was 
made  to  remove  the  snow  and  slush,  and  I  understand  that  the 
dust  and  dirt  in  summer  are  equally  intolerable.  As  the 
streets  are  not  regularly  lighted,  persons  who  go  out  after 
dark  carry  huge  cylindrical  lanterns,  resembling  our  Chinese 

1  See  the  praise  of  its  apricots  by  the      bier  de   Meynard,  Diet.  geog.  de  la 
Arab  geographers  Yakut  (A.D.  1200)       Perse,  p.  132. 
and  Mustaufi  (A.D.  1340)  given  in  Bar-  2  Cf.  Wilson, Persian  Life,  p.  66. 


42         TABRIZ,    THE   RESIDENCE   OF   THE   CROWN  PRINCE 

lanterns,  but  made  of  thin  muslin.  The  size  of  these  luminous 
transparencies  is  in  proportion  to  the  dignity  and  position  of 
the  person  escorted  (for  in  Persia  one  generally  goes  out  with 
a  servant  as  an  escort),  and  a  grandee  may  be  recognized  by 
a  giant  lantern,  three  feet  high  and  twenty  inches  in  diameter, 
carried  before  him. 

The  water-supply  of  the  city  interested  me,  because  this  prob- 
lem is  often  more  difficult  to  solve  in  Persia  than  elsewhere. 
Most  of  the  water  in  Tabriz  is  carried  in  underground  channels 
from  the  outlying  districts  and  distributed  through  the  town 
by  means  of  cemented  conduits  and  clay  pipes.  During  one 
of  the  days  of  my  stay  the  garden  of  the  mission  was  irrigated, 
so  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  how  the  water  was  dis- 
tributed. The  plug  of  the  pipe  leading  from  the  street  into 
the  yard,  which  in  many  cases  is  a  mass  of  clay  or  waste  rags 
to  serve  as  a  stopper,  is  removed,  and  the  water  allowed  to 
stream  through  the  channels  of  the  courtyard  and  into  a  reser- 
voir (amldr)  in  the  cellar  of  the  house.  The  gardener  super- 
intends the  distribution  of  the  stream,  which  is  allowed  to  run 
for  several  hours,  depending  upon  the  contract,  and  then  the 
waterman  again  shuts  off  the  supply  and  opens  it  in  turn  for 
the  next  house.  In  the  management  of  the  water  system, 
however,  little  attention  is  paid  to  matters  of  hygiene,  and  the 
water  becomes  much  polluted  by  surface  drainage,  so  that  it  is 
easy  to  see  how  an  epidemic  like  cholera  can  spread.1 

The  two  architectural  monuments  in  Tabriz  which  have  a 
special  claim  to  interest  are  partly  in  ruins.  The  most  conspic- 
uous of  these  is  the  Ark,  or  citadel,  which  may  be  seen  from 
almost  every  part  of  the  town.  This  massive  structure  prob- 
ably occupies  the  same  position  as  the  old  building  which 
Yakut  described  seven  hundred  years  ago  as  '  the  Palace  of  the 
Amir,  built  of  red  brick  artistically  set,  and  very  solidly  con- 
structed.' 2  The  people  call  the  citadel  the  Arch  of  Ali  Shah 
(Tak-i  All  Shah),  after  the  name  of  Taj  ad-Din  Ali  Shah,  who 
1  See  also  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  70.  2  Yakut,  p.  133. 


THE   CITADEL   AND    THE  BLUE  MOSQUE  43 

was  the  grand  vizir  of  the  Mongol  ruler  Ghazan  Khan,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  built  the  mosque 
which  once  formed  a  part  of  the  structure.1  The  battlements 
of  the  Ark  rise  more  than  a  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  the 
walls  are  fully  twenty  feet  in  thickness.  The  forbidding 
appearance  of  the  solemn  pile  agrees  well  with  the  story  that 
criminals  were  formerly  executed  by  being  thrown  from  its 
summit.  Local  accounts  add  a  narrative  of  a  curious  escape  of 
a  woman  who  was  condemned  to  this  horrible  death  ;  her  skirts 
and  balloon-like  pantalets  acted  as  a  parachute  to  break  the 
fall,  so  that  she  received  no  injury. 

As  I  surveyed  the  towering  wall  and  observed  its  ancient 
style  of  architecture,  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  it  prob- 
ably did  not  differ  much  from  that  on  the  top  of  which  a  tragic 
scene  was  enacted  in  the  days  of  the  tyrant  Cambyses,  son  of 
Cyrus,  as  told  by  Herodotus.  According  to  the  famous  his- 
torian, the  king's  grand  vizir  Prexaspes  determined  that  the 
truth  about  the  usurpation  of  the  False  Smerdis  should  be 
known,  though  his  own  life  be  forfeited  in  the  cause.  He 
therefore  ascended  the  tower  of  the  palace  and  began  to  harangue 
the  people  who  were  gathered  below  to  listen,  telling  them  of 
the  glorious  reign  of  their  former  king,  Cyrus,  the  atrocities 
committed  by  Cambyses,  and  describing  how  treachery  had 
brought  Smerdis  and  the  Magians  into  power  ;  then,  before  he 
could  be  seized,  he  flung  himself  headlong  from  the  summit  to 
destruction.2 

Far  more  interesting  from  the  architectural  standpoint  is  the 
second  monument  of  Tabriz,  the  well-known  Masjid-i  Kabud,  or 
Blue  Mosque.  This  fine  specimen  of  Mohammedan  art,  dating 
from  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  is  now  falling  into 
utter  decay,  but  its  crumbling  walls  and  arches  still  show  grace- 
ful lines  and  are  encrusted  with  tiles  of  a  rich  blue  color,  set 

1  See    the  statement  of   Mustaufi,       Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  64,  and  Cur- 
cited  by   Barbier  de   Meynard,  Diet.      zon,  Persia,  1.  522. 
geog.  p.  132,  n.  1,  and  compare   also  2  Herodotus,  History,  3.  75. 


44 

off  by  exquisite  faience  of  yellow,  salmon,  white,  and  black, 
interwoven  with  patterns  and  arabesque  scrolls.  It  is  fortu- 
nate that  the  French  archaeologist  and  artist  Texier  preserved 
some  of  its  perishing  beauty  in  his  handsome  reproductions 
published  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  century  ago,  and  that  the 
younger  German  scholar  Sarre,  in  his  fine  photographs  and 
colored  engravings,  has  also  contributed  his  share  toward  sav- 
ing more  of  the  Blue  Mosque,  for  it  will  probably  have  fallen 
into  utter  decay  before  another  hundred  years  are  past.1 

The  other  buildings  in  the  city  require  only  brief  mention. 
There  are  said  to  be  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  eighteen 
mosques  in  Tabriz,  but  none  of  them  can  bear  comparison  with 
the  Blue  Mosque.  The  religious  merit  of  the  city  is  enhanced 
by  the  fact  that  it  can  boast  of  having  the  tombs  of  eight 
Imamzadahs,  sainted  followers  of  Mohammed  and  of  his  son-in- 
law  Ali ;  while  some  4  companions  of  the  Prophet '  are  said 
also  to  be  interred  on  Mount  Sahand.2  These  facts  bear  out 
the  proud  title  4  Cupola  of  Islam,'  which  Tabriz  bore  even  six 
centuries  ago,3  and  the  city  is  so  bigotedly  Mohammedan  that 
Jews  are  said  not  to  be  ordinarily  tolerated  in  the  town. 

The  oldest  portion  of  the  city  is  known  as  the  Kalah,  or 
Fortress,  although  its  walls  have  practically  disappeared  and 
the  moat  has  been  largely  filled  in  and  built  upon.  The 
central  part  of  this  old-time  fortified  section  is  occupied  by 
the  bazaars.  These  marts  of  trade  are  among  the  finest  in  Per- 
sia, if  not  in  all  the  East,  and  are  a  source  of  endless  interest 
to  the  traveller.  In  construction  they  are  of  the  characteristic 
Oriental  type,  consisting  of  acres  of  vaulted  arches  built  of 
brick  and  masonry,  roofed  over  and  divided  by  long  narrow 
passageways,  with  shops  and  alcoves  on  each  side.  At  occa- 
sional intervals  large  portals  lead  out  into  square  courts  en- 

1  See  Texier,   Description  de  TAr-      nard,  Diet.  geog.  p.  133,  n.  1.     '  Com- 
menie,    la    Perse,   etc.,   Paris,   1842-      panions '    (ashdb)  is  a  technical  term 
1845 ;    Sarre,    Denkmdler    Persischer      in  Islam. 

Baukunst,  Berlin,  1901.  8  Mustaufi,  op.  cit.  p.  132,  n.  1. 

2  Mustaufi,  cited  by  Barbier  de  Mey- 


INTERIOR  OF  BAZAAR  AT  TABRIZ 


IN   THE  BAZAARS  45 

closed  to  serve  as  places  for  the  caravans  to  unload  and  lodge. 
The  light  in  the  bazaar  is  generally  dim  except  where  holes 
pierce  the  domes  at  regular  intervals  and  let  in  shafts  of  sun- 
shine, which  serve  also  to  reveal  the  dirt  below.  The  passage- 
ways of  the  bazaars  always  seem  crowded  ;  camels,  donkeys, 
and  pack-mules  add  to  the  confusion  of  the  disordered  mass 
of  buyers  and  sellers,  and  the  incessant  cry  khabarddr!  kha- 
barddrf  'take  care!  take  care!'  ejaculated  by  the  drivers, 
becomes  exasperating,  especially  when  you  have  to  crowd 
against  the  wall  to  let  some  grandee  pass.  This  local  notable 
may  be  mounted  on  horseback  and  preceded  by  a  lackey  called 
a  fardsh,  who  clears  the  way  with  a  mace ;  but  sometimes  the 
noteworthy  is  seated  in  a  carriage  and  preceded  by  outriders. 

The  bazaars  open  shortly  after  sunrise  and  do  not  close  until 
sunset,  at  which  time  the  shops  are  shut  with  wooden  shutters 
and  the  gates  of  the  bazaar  barred  and  locked.  The  booths  in 
which  the  goods  are  displayed  measure  scarcely  more  than 
ten  or  twelve  feet  square,  and  often  much  less.  The  customers 
do  not  enter  the  shop,  but  walk  along  the  narrow  passageways 
and  bargain  with  the  salesman,  who  squats"  lazily  on  the 
brick  ledge  in  front  of  his  store  or  sometimes  rises  slowly 
to  bring  from  the  rear  of  the  booth  an  article  which  the  pro- 
spective purchaser  wishes  to  examine.  If  the  price  cannot 
finally  be  agreed  upon  after  long  bartering,  the  face  of  the 
merchant  assumes  a  look  of  stolid  indifference  or  Oriental  dis- 
dain, and  the  customer  passes  along  to  the  next  shop.  Be- 
yond a  rough  grouping  of  industries  there  is  little  order  or 
arrangement  in  the  distribution  of  the  booths.  Here  may  be 
a  fruit-stall  with  a  rich  supply  of  melons,  which  are  kept  on 
sale  even  in  winter  ;  there  an  Armenian  silversmith  doing  fine 
filigree-work  by  hand;  on  this  side  a  cap-maker  busy  with 
finishing  a  lambskin  hat  or  a  black  Persian  fez  ;  yonder  a 
baker  flapping  huge  sheets  of  dough  against  the  sides  of  an 
earthen  oven  (tandur).  The  oven  itself  is  simply  a  hollow 
scooped  in  the  earth  and  lined  on  the  sides  with  pebbles,  which 


46         TABRIZ,    THE  RESIDENCE   OF   THE   CROWN  PRINCE 

absorb  the  heat  and  bake  the  giant  flap- jack,  but  impart  to 
the  bread  a  peculiar  pitted  appearance  and  often  a  gritty  taste. 
We  can  well  understand  why  this  bread  is  called  'pebble- 
bread  '  (ndn-i  sangak).  During  my  stay  at  Tabriz,  bonbons  and 
tinsel  decorations  were  much  in  evidence  in  the  bazaars,  as 
the  season  of  No-Ruz,  the  Persian  New  Year,  was  approaching. 

In  making  purchases  in  the  bazaars  the  monetary  unit  is 
the  4kran'  (krdn),  or  rather  the  two-kran  bit,  the  latter  being 
equivalent,  roughly  speaking,  to  twenty  cents  in  American 
money.  The  kran  itself  is  made  up  of  twenty  shdhls,  each 
worth  half  a  cent,  and  ten  krans  make  up  the  '  toman  '  (toman), 
something  less  than  a  dollar.  As  an  actual  coin,  however,  the 
toman  no  longer  exists  except  in  rare  gold  pieces,  although 
the  Imperial  Bank  of  Persia  has  issued  paper  tomans,  which 
are  handsomely  engraved  notes,  but  are  little  current  outside 
of  Tabriz  and  Teheran,  being  exchanged  at  a  considerable  loss 
in  other  towns.  For  this  reason  the  traveller  has  to  go  weighted 
down  with  bags  of  silver,  when  he  starts  on  a  journey,  and 
they  make  a  heavy  addition  to  his  load. 

As  Tabriz  is 'the  commercial  centre  of  northwestern  Persia 
and  its  trade  with  Europe  is  constantly  growing,  I  may  appro- 
priately add  a  few  words  regarding  the  commercial  relations  of 
Persia  and  the  United  States.1  The  '  Treaty  of  Friendship  and 
Commerce  '  between  the  United  States  and  Persia  was  concluded 
December  13,  1856,  and  .came  into  force  in  the  following  year. 
The  phrasing  of  its  opening  paragraph  is  interesting,  as  it  gives 
the  royal  titles  of  the  Shah.  I  reproduce  it  verbatim. 

4  IN  THE  NAME  OF  GOD,  THE  CLEMENT  AND  MERCIFUL  — 

*  The  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  His  Majesty, 
as  exalted  as  the  planet  Saturn;  the  Sovereign  to  whom  the  Sun 
serves  as  a  standard ;  whose  splendor  and  magnificence  are  equal  to 
that  of  the  skies ;  the  Sublime  Sovereign  and  the  Monarch  whose 

JFor  various  printed  reports  on  kindness  of  Mr.  David  C.  Beatty,  of 
Persian  trade  I  am  indebted  to  the  Yonkers,  N.Y. 


OUR    TRADE    WITH  PERSIA  47 

armies  are  as  numerous  as  the  stars ;  whose  greatness  calls  to  mind  that 
of  Jemshid ;  whose  magnificence  equals  that  of  Darius ;  the  Heir  of 
the  Crown  and  Throne  of  the  Kaianians ;  the  Sublime  Emperor  of  all 
Persia :  being  equally  and  sincerely  desirous  of  establishing  relations 
of  friendship  between  the  two  governments  which  they  wish  to 
strengthen  by  a  treaty  of  commerce  and  friendship  and  useful  to 
the  citizens  and  subjects  of  the  two  high  contracting  parties  —  have 
for  this  purpose  named  for  their  plenipotentiaries  .  .  .' 

Then  the  names  of  the  respective  appointees  are  given  and 
these  are  followed  by  a  series  of  eight  articles  regarding  the 
friendly  and  diplomatic  relations  of  the  two  countries  and 
treating  of  matters  of  trade  and  commerce,  as  well  as  the  obli- 
gations to  be  fulfilled  by  both  parties  and  the  privileges  to  be 
enjoyed.  The  various  items  of  the  treaty  contain  the  'most 
favored  nation  clause '  throughout,  so  that  the  United  States  is 
entitled  to  the  same  rights  and  privileges  in  commercial  matters 
as  any  other  nation. 

Trade  between  our  country  and  Persia  is  yet  in  its  infancy, 
as  is  shown  by  the  Consular  Reports ;  but  there  are  several 
points  to  which  attention  may  be  called  as  significant.  Russia 
has  the  bulk  (about  fifty  per  cent)  of  Persia's  export  and  im- 
port trade  ;  Great  Britain  comes  next  with  about  twenty-five 
per  cent ;  the  remainder  goes  to  '  other  countries,'  under  which 
general  heading  the  United  States  is  also  included.  The  lately 
appointed  Persian  Minister  to  Washington  emphasizes  the  pos- 
sibility of  an  extensive  increase  in  the  trade  between  his  coun- 
try and  our  own  ;  and  Mr.  John  Tyler,  our  Vice-Consul-General 
at  Teheran,  shows  in  his  recent  reports  that  there  is  at  least  a 
prospective  opening  for  American  manufactures,  especially  for 
agricultural  machinery,  and  a  growing  demand  for  American 
merchandise. 

'  American  lamps,  clocks,  matches,  and  locks  have  a  steadily  in- 
creasing sale  in  the  Teheran  bazaars,  especially  locks,  which  excel 
in  mechanical  complexity,  combined  with  lightness  and  convenience 
of  handling  (important  considerations),  anything  hitherto  put  on 
sale.  American  hand  pumps  and  cooking  and  warming  stoves  find 


48        TABRIZ,    THE  RESIDENCE   OF   THE    CROWN   PRINCE 

appreciative  purchasers  and  should,  with  proper  management  and 
competitive  enterprise,  soon  monopolize  the  market.' 

From  experience  I  can  understand  how  so  indispensable  an 
article  as  the  padlock  is  in  Persia  might  find  a  ready  market. 
The  wholesale  introduction  of  clocks,  I  believe,  is  one  of  the 
greatest  needs  in  timeless  Persia,  but  I  fear  that  their  general 
use  will  depend  largely  upon  the  introduction  of  railroads, 
which  would  help  to  spread  more  widely  the  idea  that  time 
and  money  are  synonyms.  I  might  add  that  the  admiration 
shown  by  the  natives  for  the  leather  articles  in  my  travelling- 
outfit  leads  me  to  think  that  American  straps,  clasps,  buckles, 
riding-leggings,  and  top-boots  would  find  a  good  sale,  for  the 
Persians  themselves  are  capable  workers  in  leather  and  know 
how  to  appreciate  a  good  calfskin  product.  The  time,  there- 
fore, may  not  be  distant  when  we  shall  see  a  larger  sale  both 
of  American  merchandise  and  of  4  Yankee  notions '  in  the 
bazaars  of  Persia  and  a  complimentary  import  in  return  of 
precious  stones,  like  the  topaz,  pearls  from  the  Persian  Gulf, 
silks,  shawls,  and  embroideries,  besides  the  well-known  con- 
signments of  carpets  and  rugs. 

Not  far  from  the  bazaars  is  a  large  public  square  to  which  a 
particular  interest  attaches,  not  because  of  the  armory  and 
the  gunsmiths'  shops,  the  arsenal,  prison,  royal  stables,  and 
buildings  belonging  to  the  Crown  Prince,  but  because  it  was 
the  scene  of  the  execution  of  the  Bab,  a  Persian  reformer,  on 
July  9,  1850.  This  religious  enthusiast  and  moral  teacher, 
whose  real  name  was  Mirza  Ali  Mohammed,  was  born  in  Shiraz 
about  the  year  1820.  He  was  trained  at  first  to  commer- 
cial life,  but  a  pilgrimage  to  Kerbela  and  Najaf,  and  after- 
ward to  Mecca,  awakened  in  his  heart  the  religious  enthusiasm 
which  made  him  devote  his  life  henceforth  to  developing  the 
tenets  which  he  held.  Upon  his  return  to  his  native  city,  about 
1844,  he  assumed  the  title  of  Bab,  or  '  Gate '  leading  to  the 
spiritual  life.  His  religious  views  were  somewhat  eclectic  ; 
his  doctrines  leaned  toward  a  mystic  pantheism,  with  elements 


THE  BAB   EXECUTED   AT   TABRIZ  49 

of  gnosticism,  and  were  of  a  highly  moral  order,  and  so  liberal 
as  to  include  steps  toward  the  emancipation  of  woman. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  strict  Mohammedan,  however,  the  tenets 
upheld  by  the  Bab  were  rank  heresy.  Nevertheless,  they 
spread  rapidly  and  awakened  such  intense  sympathy  among 
those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  regime  maintained  by  the 
Persian  mullahs,  on  the  one  hand,  and  raised  such  bitter  op- 
position, on  the  other,  among  those  who  were  pronouncedly 
conservative,  that  they  led  finally  to  bloody  conflicts  which 
resulted  in  the  imprisonment  of  the  Bab.  He  was  ultimately 
taken  to  Tabriz  and  there  condemned  to  be  shot.  The  place 
of  execution  was  this  very  square  of  the  arsenal  and  gun- 
smiths which  I  am  describing.  Cords  were  passed  under  his 
arms,  and  he  was  suspended  from  the  wall  above  a  small  shop 
which  was  pointed  out  to  me.  By  his  side  was  suspended  also 
a  devoted  disciple,  a  young  merchant  of  Tabriz,  and  orders 
were  given  to  the  soldiers  to  fire  their  volley.  When  the 
smoke  cleared  away,  the  body  of  the  young  follower  of  the  Bab 
was  discovered,  riddled  with  bullets  ;  but  by  some  strange  hap 
the  Bab  had  escaped.  The  shots  had  simply  cut  the  cords 
that  held  him,  so  that  he  fell  to  the  ground  unhurt  and  took 
refuge  in  the  shop  below.  He  was  probably  dazed ;  for  had 
he  retained  his  presence  of  mind,  he  might  at  once  have  turned 
the  incident  into  a  miracle  before  the  astonished  multitude. 
He  was  seized,  however,  dragged  forth  from  the  shop  and 
again  suspended,  and  shot  to  death  by  a  different  company  of 
soldiers,  since  the  first  absolutely  refused  to  fire  another  volley. 
The  bodies  of  the  two  religious  martyrs  were  then  cruelly 
dragged  through  the  streets  and  thrown  to  the  dogs  and 
birds,  but  they  were  afterward  taken  up  and  buried  by 
sympathetic  Babis,  as  the  movement  had  gained  a  large 
number  of  adherents.  It  still  has  many  followers,  de- 
spite the  persecution  to  which  the  sect  has  been  subjected.1 

1  See  Browne,  A  Year  Amongst  cially  the  same  author's  translation  of 
the  Persians,  pp.  58-64,  and  espe-  the  Tarlkh-i-Jadld,  or  New  History  of 


50 

Babism,  in  fact,  is  not  confined  to  Persia,  but  has  adherents 
in  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  Egypt,  India,  and  even  in  America, 
where  some  of  its  believers  have  tried  to  disseminate  their 
doctrines.1 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  same  public  square,  in  the  prison, 
another  religious  martyr  was  executed  some  years  ago.  This 
was  a  Mohammedan  priest  who  had  abjured  Islam  and  adopted 
Christianity.  He  was  cast  into  prison,  confined  in  an  upper 
room  which  looks  out  upon  the  square,  and,  after  being  nearly 
starved  to  death,  was  finally  strangled  by  a  bowstring,  refusing 
to  the  last  to  renounce  his  belief  in  Christ. 

One  afternoon  of  my  stay  in  Tabriz  was  devoted  to  a  visit  to 
the  gardens  and  summer  palace  of  the  Vali  Ahd,  or  Crown 
Prince,  who  makes  this  city  his  chosen  place  of  residence,  as 
his  predecessors  have  done  for  the  past  hundred  years.  This 
summer  abode,  with  its  fine  garden,  lies  on  the  southern  side 
of  the  city,  although  it  is  called  'Northern  Garden'  (BagJi-i 
Shamal),  having  taken  that  name  from  an  older  residence  on  the 
north  side  which  it  replaced.  The  snow  lay  so  deep  when  I 
saw  it  that  I  could  gain  no  real  impression  of  what  the  park 
might  be  in  spring  and  summer,  but  the  driveways  and  avenues 
of  trees  were  attractively  laid  out,  the  arched  gateway  of  brick 
was  effective  as  an  entrance,  and  the  palace  itself  more  worthy 
of  the  name  than  some  of  the  so-called  palaces  in  Persia,  which 
are  not  always  kept  up  well. 

In  paying  visits  in  the  city  I  learned  something  of  the 
native  etiquette,  which  has  a  great  deal  of  charm  as  well  as 
formality.  The  Persians  are  distinctly  a  social  people  and 
their  manners  in  company  are  extremely  polite.  Their  vo- 

Mirzd   'All  Muhammad  the  Bab,  by  1  There  is  a  society  of  Babists  in 

Mirzd  Huseyn  of  Hamaddn,  pp.  299-  Chicago  who  call  themselves  Behaists, 

312,    especially    pp.     303-306,    Cam-  after  Beha  Ullah,  who  claimed  to  be 

bridge,  1893  ;    compare  also  Browne,  the  successor  of  the  Bab  and  a  mani- 

The    Episode    of     the   Bab,  2.    43-  festation  of  the  glory  of  God.      See 

45,    182,    190,    321-322,    Cambridge,  Open   Court,  18.  356  seq.,  398  seq., 

1891.  Chicago,  1904. 


AN   ACILEMENIAN   SEAL:     THE   KlNG  SLAYING  A  MONSTER 

(Exact  Size) 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE'S  GARDEN 
(Bagh-i  Shamal,  Northern  Garden) 


PERSIAN    VISITS  AND   SOCIAL  ETIQUETTE  51 

cabulary  of  etiquette  is  rich  in  courteous  phrases  and  com- 
plimentary terms,  and  the  saldms,  or  benedictions  of  peace, 
which  form  part  of  the  greeting  to  the  visitor,  serve  as  a 
charming  introduction  to  conversation. 

When  a  visit  is  to  be  paid  to  a  person  of  rank,  it  is  customary 
for  the  visitor  to  send  word  in  advance  to  inquire  of  the  digni- 
tary what  hour  would  be  convenient  for  receiving  the  call. 
The  response  comes  back  couched  in  some  courteous  phrase  and 
names  the  time,  4  two  hours  before  sunset,'  or  perhaps  earlier,  as 
the  case  may  be.  On  being  ushered  into  the  reception  chamber, 
we  find  ourselves  in  a  large  room,  richly  carpeted  with  soft  rugs 
and  lined  with  divans,  but  otherwise  little  furnished 'except  with 
a  few  chairs  for  Europeans  when  they  are  received.  The  host 
enters  a  moment  later  and  comes  forward  to  greet  his  guest. 
As  an  Oriental  he  appears  in  his  stockinged  feet,  for  shoes  are 
forbidden  indoors,  and  wears  his  black  lambskin  cap  (JculdTi), 
as  it  would  be  bad  form  to  have  the  head  uncovered.  His  polite 
saldm  aleikum, 4  Peace  be  unto  you,'  is  responded  to  in  kind,  with 
a  mutual  inquiry  about  the  'august  health'  of  each,  after  which 
the  talk  proceeds  easily  and  unaffectedly. 

In  a  few  minutes  one  of  the  troop  of  servants  enters,  bringing 
the  kalian,  or  water-pipe,  as  an  added  mark  of  hospitable 
attention.  This  pipe  stands  about  two  feet  high  and  is  some- 
what elaborate  in  its  structure.  The  base  is  a  large  glass 
vessel  of  a  graceful  shape,  holding  a  quart  of  water.  From 
this  vase  there  rises  the  tube  of  the  pipe,  which  is  about  fifteen 
inches  long,  made  of  dark  wood,  sometimes  elaborately  carved, 
and  capped  by  a  China  bowl,  which  is  usually  decorated  with  a 
picture  of  the  Shah  and  a  fringe  of  silver  chains  hanging  from 
its  rim.  The  tobacco  is  placed  in  this  bowl,  after  the  leaves 
have  been  moistened  and  squeezed  out,  and  a  square  piece  of 
charcoal  is  used  to  light  it  and  left  burning  on  the  top  while 
the  pipe  is  in  use.  The  stem  itself  is  about  eighteen  inches 
long,  and  is  inserted  into  the  water-vase  at  a  convenient  angle. 
It  is  made  of  the  same  dark  wood  as  the  tube  and  is  capped 


52         TABRIZ,    THE   RESIDENCE   OF   THE   CROWN  PRINCE 

with  a  mouthpiece  of  silver.  In  using  the  pipe  the  smoke  is 
not  drawn  by  whiffs  into  the  cheeks,  as  in  the  case  of  a  cigar,  but 
is  inhaled  in  long  draughts  directly  into  the  lungs,  the  strength 
of  the  nicotine  being  diminished  somewhat  in  passing  through 
the  water,  which  is  occasionally  also  scented.  After  three  or 
four  long  puffs  it  is  en  regie  to  pass  the  pipe  to  the  next  person 
at  the  right  and  so  on  throughout  the  company.  A  tray  of 
sweetmeats  and  some  tea  served  in  tiny  glasses  form  an  addi- 
tional course  and  complete  the  hospitality,  arid  then  the  guest 
asks  permission  to  'remove  the  cause  of  trouble  to  the  host,' 
and  take  his  leave,  which  is  finally  granted  after  a  variety  of 
protests.  Formality  is  resumed  at  the  final  leave-taking,  and 
many  compliments  are  passed  in  saying  good-by. 

The  Persians  at  their  banquets,  I  am  told,  show  the  same 
grace  in  entertaining,  and  the  conversation  is  easy,  bright,  and 
witty.  There  is  a  great  variety  of  courses,  if  we  count  the 
sweets,  dried  fruit,  and  other  delicacies,  which  are  partaken 
during  the  evening  before  the  solid  dishes  are  served.  This 
takes  place  before  the  company  is  to  break  up,  so  that  the  latter 
are  hardly  more  than  a  supplement  to  the  lighter  delicacies 
which  precede  them.  The  custom  with  the  ancient  Persians 
was  the  same.  Herodotus  says  that  '  the  Persians  indulge  in 
very  few  solid  dishes,  but  they  eat  many  desserts,  which  are  not 
served  up  on  the  table  all  together  at  the  same  time.'  He  adds, 
'the  Persians  are  very  much  addicted  to  wine.'1  Since  the  time 
of  Mohammed  this  abuse  has  been  forbidden,  but  the  injunctions 
of  the  Koran  in  this  respect  are  not  so  strictly  complied  with 
as  they  might  be.  I  was  informed  also  that  an  occasional 
feature  of  lavish  entertainments  is  an  exhibition  of  dancing 
boys,  somewhat  similar  to  the  nautch  girls  of  India.  These 
boys  are  said  to  be  handsome  youths,  but  spoiled  and  effeminate, 
like  those  at  Bokhara  and  Samarkand,  and  it  may  have  been 

1  Herodotus,    History,    1.    133,   cf.       Persians,  pp.  108-111;  Wilson,  Per- 
Rawlinson,    Herodotus,    1.   219,  n.  6.      sian  Life,  p.  243  seq. 
See  also  Browne,  A  Year  Amongst  the 


SAVALAN,  A   HOLY  MOUNTAIN  IN  AZARBAIJAN  53 

against  such  minions  as  these  that  some  of  the  shafts  of  Zoro- 
aster's invective  in  the  A  vesta  were  launched.1 

Although  situated  in  a  region  which  was  historically  con- 
nected with  Zoroaster's  name,  Tabriz  yielded  little  for  my 
researches  in  that  respect :  first,  because  Mohammedanism  has 
obliterated  the  traces  of  Zoroastrianism  ;  second,  because 
the  winter  season  prevented  my  making  investigations  in 
the  mountains,  which  possibly  might  have  yielded  some  results. 
I  was  particularly  anxious,  for  example,  to  ascend  Mount 
Sahand,  the  mountain  which  possibly  may  be  identical  with 
Asnavand  of  the  Avesta,  but  the  heavy  snows  cut  off  all 
approach.  Still  more  inaccessible  at  this  time  of  year  was 
Mount  Savalan,  near  Ardabil,  three  or  four  days'  journey  dis- 
tant from  Tabriz.  This  is  the  mountain  which  I  think  is  to  be 
identified  with  the  '  Mount  of  the  two  Holy  Communicants ' 
in  the  Avesta,  where  Zoroaster  communed  with  Ormazd.  A 
number  of  the  Oriental  writers,  such  as  Ibn  Haukal  (tenth 
century),  Kazvini  (1263),  Mirkhond  (1474),  and  others,  ex- 
pressly record  the  tradition  that  Zoroaster  received  a  revela- 
tion from  Ormazd  on  the  heights  of  the  Iranian  Sinai  and  that 
he  wrote  the  Avesta  there.2  Among  these  authorities  is  the 
author  of  the  Suvar  Akldlm  Sab' ah,  or  c  Outline  of  Countries,' 
who,  writing  in  Persian,  about  A.D.  1400,  attributes  the  tremen- 
dous snows  around  Ardabil,  near  which  Mount  Savalan  rises,  to 
a  curse  uttered  against  the  people  by  Zoroaster  because  they 
rejected  his  faith.  The  fulfilment  of  this  anathema  seemed 
to  me  a  veritable  fact,  for  I  had  to  abandon  all  hope  of  reach- 
ing Savalan,  owing  to  the  snow-bound  roads,  and  to  content 
myself  with  a  distant  view  of  this  sacred  mountain  from  the 
Caspian  Sea  when  I  returned  to  Baku  in  June.  One  of  the 

1  Avesta,  Ys.  51.  12  ;  Vd.  8.  26,  27,  fur  Kunde  des  Morgenlandes,  12.  230- 
32,  etc. ;  see  also  Herodotus,  History,  234,  Wieii,  1898,  and  Brunnhofer,  Vom 
1.  135.  Pontus  bis  zum  Indus,  p.  182,  Leipzig, 

2  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  34,    195 ;  1893 ;  see  also  Ibn  Haukal,  tr.  Ouse- 
consult    also    Stackelberg,    Persische  ley,  p.  173. 

Sagengeschichte,  in  Wiener  Zeitschrift 


54         TABRIZ,   THE  RESIDENCE   OF   THE   CROWN  PRINCE 

native  lords  of  the  district  about  Tabriz,  Anton  Khan,  an 
Armenian,  gave  me  some  description  of  the  crater  of  Mount 
Savalan  and  of  the  hot  springs  which  Kazvini  mentions,  but 
he  said  there  is  no  tradition  that  he  knew  of,  regarding  the 
Fire- Worshippers  in  this  region.1  Another  lord,  Sadir  Khan, 
a  Persian,  informed  me  about  an  ash-hillock  of  a  fire-temple  at 
Marand  which  I  had  missed  on  my  way  to  Tabriz. 

My  inquiries  regarding  inscriptions  or  sculptures  in  the 
vicinity  of  Tabriz  did  not  result  in  eliciting  any  information,2 
but  I  found  that  coins  and  gems  are  occasionally  unearthed  in 
the  neighborhood.  I  purchased  several  specimens  of  coins 
dating  from  the  Parthian  and  Sasanian  periods,  and  a  seal 
which  is  of  considerable  interest  because  of  its  age,  as  it  is 
certainly  to  be  attributed  to  the  Achsemenian  era.  The  seal 
is  oval  in  shape,  flat  on  the  carved  face  and  rounded  at  the 
back,  and  it  measures  one  inch  by  three  fourths  of  an  inch 
(twenty -five  centimeters  by  twenty  centimeters).  The  stone 
is  a  blue  chalcedony  or  sapphirine,  which  came  into  use  during 
the  early  Persian  period.  It  is  carved  with  the  figure  of  a 
king  or  warrior,  slaying  a  monster  with  his  dagger,  somewhat 
after  the  manner  of  the  sculptures  at  Persepolis.  The  work- 
ing out  of  the  design,  in  my  judgment,  shows  too  much  origi- 
nality to  be  a  mere  later  imitation  of  this  motive,  and  there  is 
no  evidence  to  show  that  the  seal  is  a  forgery.  I  am  sup- 
ported in  my  view  that  it  belongs  to  Achsemenian  times  by 
other  scholars  who  have  seen  it,  among  them  Dr.  William 
Hayes  Ward,  of  New  York,  an  authority  on  seals  and  cylinders. 

The  last  day  of  my  stay  at  Tabriz,  which  I  should  gladly 
have  prolonged  in  order  to  enjoy  the  hospitality  extended  from 
many  sides,  was  spent  in  making  visits  among  friends  in  the 


llt  was  still  famed  as  a  seat  of  Tabriz  a  fragment  of  an  Ancient 

Magism  in  the  tenth  century  of  our  Persian  cuneiform  inscription,  but 

era,  according  to  Ibn  Haukal,  tr.  Ouse-  it  had  been  brought  from  Susa  by  M. 

ley,  p.  173.  de  Morgan  and,  I  believe,  already 

8 1  saw  at  the  French  Consulate  at  published. 


SAFAR  AWAITING  DIRECTIONS 


AN  ACH^EMENIAN  SEAL  55 

European  section,  which  forms  a  part  of  the  Armenian  quarter 
of  the  town.  A  final  tour  of  the  bazaars  had  also  to  be  made 
to  secure  a  stock  of  provisions  to  carry  '  on  the  road,'  and  an 
extra  supply  of  warm  clothing  had  to  be  purchased,  for  the 
cold  was  still  intense.  The  evening  was  passed  at  a  dinner 
party  given  by  my  host  and  hostess,  with  a  final  good-by  to 
American  and  European  friends. 

At  the  eleventh  hour,  when  the  dinner  was  over  (and  it  was 
literally  eleven  o'clock),  I  learned  that  the  Armenian  servant 
whom  I  had  engaged,  and  to  whom  I  had  paid  part  of  his 
month's  wages  in  advance,  had  'decided  not  to  go  on  the 
journey.'  This  placed  me  in  a  great  predicament:  the  horses 
had  been  hired  and  preparations  made  for  an  early  start  in  the 
morning,  so  that  postponement  even  for  a  day  meant  a  serious 
change  in  my  plans.  A  ray  of  light,  however,  shone  through 
the  darkness.  I  bethought  myself  of  a  young  Persian,  named 
Safar  Adilbeg,  a  convert  from  Mohammedanism,  whom  I  had 
noticed  working  about  the  mission  grounds.  I  had  been  at- 
tracted by  his  honest  face  and  demeanor,  and  after  a  hurried 
conference  with  my  host  and  mission  friends,  to  ask  if  the 
young  man  might  be  allowed  to  go,  I  received  hearty  ap- 
proval on  their  part,  and  Safar  was  aroused  from  bed  to 
be  questioned  on  the  subject.  He  accepted  the  proposal 
at  once,  hesitating  only  lest  his  lack  of  experience  should 
disqualify  him.  I  felt  sure,  however,  that  he  would  fill  the 
post  well,  for  I  was  convinced  of  his  merit,  and  we  struck 
a  bargain  on  the  spot.  My  confidence  was  rightly  placed, 
and  although  I  used  occasionally  to  wonder  whether  some 
serious  blemish  in  his  character  might  not  develop,  it  never 
did,  and  I  sometimes  amusingly  thought  that  wings  would 
sprout  and  that  his  name  would  have  to  be  changed  to 
Raphael,  after  the  story  in  Tobit.  His  true  worth  grew 
more  and  more  in  my  esteem  as  time  went  on,  and  I  am 
glad  to  be  able  to  add  that  he  has  since  then  happily 
realized  the  ambition  of  his  life  in  studying  medicine  at 


56         TABRIZ,    THE   RESIDENCE   OF   THE   CROWN  PRINCE 

Teheran,  in  order  to  become  a  physician  and  practise  among 
his  people. 

Before  proceeding  with  the  narrative  of  my  journey  after 
leaving  Tabriz  it  may  be  advisable  in  the  next  chapter  to  give 
some  account  of  Zoroaster  and  the  A  vesta,  as  these  names  have 
often  been  mentioned  already  and  will  frequently  be  referred 
to  hereafter. 


CHAPTER   VII 
ZOROASTER   AND  THE   AVESTA 

'At  whose  birth  and  growth  all  creatures  of  the  holy  creation  cried,  "  Hail ! "  ' 

—  AVESTA,  Yasht  13.  93. 

'  TELL  me  how  it  comes  to  pass,'  says  one  of  the  fathers  of 
the  early  Christian  church,  '  that  the  majority  of  people  know 
nothing  more  about  Zoroaster  than  the  name.'  And  yet  there 
is  a  tradition  that  the  wise  men  who  came  from  the  East  to 
worship  at  the  manger  cradle  in  Bethlehem  were  led  to  under- 
take their  pious  journey  '  by  reason  of  a  prophecy  of  Zoro- 
aster.' The  name,  moreover,  of  this  forerunner  of  the  Magi 
has  been  used  in  literature  of  later  times  as  a  synonym  for 
wisdom.  To  Byron,  Zoroaster  was  a  4  sage '  ;  to  Shelley  he 
appeared  as  4  the  Magus '  or  as  4  Earth's  dead  child ' ;  and  the 
German  writer  Nietzsche  chose  to  veil  his  recently  published 
thoughts  under  the  title  '  Thus  Spake  Zarathushtra.'  It  is 
the  more  interesting  to  know  something  about  the  life  and 
character  of  this  Persian  lawgiver  and  philosopher  of  old,  this 
religious  teacher  of  ancient  Iran,  because  much  has  been  added 
in  the  last  few  years  to  our  knowledge  of  Zoroaster  as  a  his- 
torical personage  —  a  man  to  whom  we  may  perhaps  be  justified 
in  assigning,  indirectly  at  least,  a  place  in  the  line  of  prophets 
that  have  been  since  the  world  began.1 

In  the  early  dawn  of  the  seventh  century  before  Christ  he 
appears  as  a  star  on  the  horizon,  remotely  a  heathen  herald  of 
the  Christian  day  to  come.  He  comes  as  an  elder  contemporary 

1  lam  indebted  to  Mr.  J.  B.  Walker  349-357,  New  York,  1900.  For  a 
for  permission  to  reprint  with  additions  detailed  life  of  the  teacher  see  my 
and  alterations  my  article  on  Zoroaster  Zoroaster,  the  Prophet  of  Ancient  Iran, 
in  the  Cosmopolitan  Magazine,  28.  New  York,  1899. 

67 


58  ZOROASTER  AND    THE  A  VEST  A 

of  the  Grecian  sages  Thales  and  Solon.  If  our  calculation 
be  right,  he  must  still  have  been  living  when  the  Jews  were 
carried  up  into  captivity  at  Babylon.  His  birthplace  was 
the  district  to  the  west  or  southwest  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  not  far, 
apparently,  from  the  city  of  Urumiah,  which  we  are  approach- 
ing on  our  journey,  and  the  scene  of  a  part  of  his  early  mis- 
sionary preaching  and  teaching  was  the  territory  south  of  this 
very  sea.  The  crest  of  Mount  Alborz  gilded  with  God's  eternal 
sunrise  —  for  Alborz  is  a  holy  mountain  in  the  Avesta  —  may 
have  suggested  the  theme  for  more  than  one  inspired  discourse. 
The  wellsprings  of  blazing  oil  and  phenomena  of  igneous  origin 
familiar  in  the  volcanic  regions  of  Iran  may  have  seemed  to 
him  a  symbol  of  the  source  of  the  Fire  Divine. 

Dressed  in  white  flowing  robes  we  may  picture  him  preach- 
ing before  his  people.  The  priestly  vestments  of  the  Parsi 
dastur  to-day,  and  the  Gheber  mantle  and  belt  of  the  fire- 
worshipper  in  Lalla  Rookh  are  lineal  descendants,  no  doubt, 
of  the  ancient  Median  garb  which  he  wore.  Herodotus  tells  us 
that  the  Persians  took  their  style  of  dress  from  the  Medes 
because  they  thought  it  handsomer  than  their  own.  The  form 
of  worship  and  manner  of  chanting  the  ritual  which  the  great 
historian  describes  is  largely  kept  up  in  the  Zoroastrian  religion 
to-day.  In  speaking,  Zoroaster  used  a  language  akin  to  the 
ancient  Sanskrit,  but  more  abounding  in  long  final  vowels,  as  he 
lifted  up  his  voice  in  exhortation  of  the  masses  or  sang  the 
praises  of  the  god  Ahura  Mazda. 

In  his  youth,  so  far  as  we  can  gather,  he  must  have  been 
reared  in  a  state  of  society  that  showed  marked  and  paradoxical 
extremes.  From  the  ancient  records  we  may  judge  that  the  cul- 
ture, such  as  it  was  in  those  early  times,  was  offset  by  extraor- 
dinary crudeness  and  barbarism  ;  and  Media  in  some  respects 
has  changed  but  little  since  then.  Zoroaster  was  well  ac- 
quainted, we  may  believe,  with  the  civilization  of  the  ancient 
cities,  but  better  acquainted  with  the  gross  ignorance  and  base 
superstition  of  unlettered  country  life.  These  two  widely 


A  PERSIAN  PAGE 


THE" 

UNIVERSITY 

*     OF 
£AI 


THE  PROPHET  AND   HIS   TIME  59 

separated  stages  may  be  seen  in  the  Avesta  itself.  The 
wattled  hut  of  the  peasant  or  the  temporary  habitation  of 
the  marauding  nomad  form  a  contrast  to  the  'palace  of  a 
thousand  columns '  which  is  incidentally  referred  to  in  the 
sacred  text.  The  rude  hovels  are  still  perpetuated  in  the  mud 
dwellings  of  the  poor  ;  and  the  ruins  of  Susa  and  of  Persepolis, 
with  their  pillared  courts,  best  seen  in  the  restorations  of 
Dieulafoy  or  of  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  bear  witness  to  how  noble 
the  grander  architecture  of  the  Persians  must  have  been.  The 
ancient  city,  of  Ecbatana,  known  as  Achmetha  in  the  Bible, 
possessed  a  pile  of  buildings  of  no  mean  order,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  Father  of  History,  who  tells  of  its  seven  concentric 
walls,  painted  each  in  a  different  color  and  crowned  by  a 
citadel  whose  battlements  shone  with  silver  and  gold.  It  is 
true  that  Zoroaster  never  mentions  this  city,  but  we  are 
justified  in  regarding  it  as  a  type  of  the  cities  which  he 
knew. 

In  contrast  to  this  possible  approach  to  luxury  we  must  place 
the  other  view  ;  for  whatever  may  have  been  the  higher  civili- 
zation, or  whatever  there  may  have  been  of  incipient  culture, 
in  Zoroaster's  day,  we  have  in  his  own  words  evidence  enough 
of  a  prevailing  density  of  superstition  and  of  a  mist  of  religious 
unbelief  that  hung  like  a  pall  over  the  benighted  people  whose 
eyes  and  ears  he  came  to  open  and  whose  hearts  and  minds  he 
came  to  illumine  and  enlighten.  Messiahlike  he  appears,  and 
the  land  of  Iran  rings  with  his  clarion  note  of  reform.  He  is 
born  as  one  out  of  the  fulness  of  time.  He  arises  to  revolu- 
tionize the  religious  thought  of  Iran,  to  stir  the  soul  of  Media 
and  Bactria,  and  to  form  for  the  coming  nation  of  Persia  a 
creed  that  is  to  boast  a  Cyrus,  '  the  shepherd  of  the  Lord,'  and 
a  Darius  who  shall  give  command  for  rebuilding  the  Temple  of 
Jerusalem.  The  details  of  Zoroaster's  life  may  be  in  a  measure 
legendary,  but  behind  them  all  we  can  see  the  figure  of  a  great 
historic  personage,  whose  actual  existence  we  have  no  longer 
any  reason  to  doubt. 


60  ZOROASTER  AND    THE  A  VESTA 

The  year  B.C.  660  was  perhaps  the  date  of  Zoroaster's  birth, 
although  much  uncertainty  has  prevailed  on  the  subject  and 
some  scholars  argue  that  he  flourished  a  century  or  two  earlier. 
The  Avesta  and  the  Middle  Persian  books  known  as  the 
Pahlavi  writings  describe  the  prophecies  that  foretold  his  com- 
ing and  the  signs  and  wonders  that  heralded  his  entrance  into  the 
world.  Some  idea  of  the  youth  and  personality  of  this  future 
master  may  be  gathered  from  these  texts,  which  the  reader  may 
easily  consult  in  translation  in  Max  Miiller's  series  of  Sacred 
Books  of  the  East.  In  reading  of  his  life  we  cannot  help 
feeling  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  a  person  whose  character 
even  in  youthful  years  combines  vigorous  thought  with  specu- 
lative imagination.  It  is  instinctive  for  such  spirits  to  act  as 
guides.  We  may  be  certain  that  Zarathushtra  early  heard  the 
call  that  spoke  to  his  heart  and  made  him  feel  an  individual 
fitness,  a  peculiar  consecration,  for  his  hallowed  office.  His 
person  is  sanctified ;  his  bearing  is  that  of  one  who  is  to  receive 
a  weighty  charge. 

The  extravagant  stories  of  plots  against  his  life  by  sorcerers 
and  demons,  which  the  old  books  of  Iran  enjoy  repeating,  or  of 
his  disputes  with  perverted  and  crafty  ministers  of  a  false 
creed,  under  whose  blinding  influence  even  his  own  father  lived, 
present  a  dark  picture  of  a  foul  religion  and  a  depraved  priest- 
hood, which  he  felt  himself  destined  to  combat  and  overthrow. 
4  Tell  me,'  he  later  says  in  one  of  his  Gathas,  or  Psalms,  in 
which  he  alludes  to  the  false  priests  and  devils,  4  tell  me  truly,  O 
Lord,  have  such  demons  ever  been  good  rulers  ? '  It  is  pre- 
cisely these  who,  to  quote  his  own  words  used  on  another 
occasion,  'have  united  themselves  with  power  for  the  purpose 
of  destroying  the  life  of  man  by  their  evil  deeds  ;  but  their 
own  soul  and  their  own  conscience  will  make  them  howl 
when  they  come  to  the  Bridge  of  Judgment,  to  be  inmates 
forever  and  ever  of  the  House  of  Falsehood  [i.e.  hell].'  And 
again  he  exclaims,  '  Tell  me  truly  how  we  shall  banish  False- 
hood from  ourselves  even  unto  those  who,  full  of  unbelief,  take 


THE  MISSION   OF   THE  PROPHET  61 

no  thought  which  accords  with  Righteousness,  nor  have  felt 
delight  in  the  communion  of  Good  Thought.' 

On  the  other  hand,  a  moment  after  these  anathemas  or  im- 
passioned utterances  against  the  wicked,  we  find  evidence  of 
Zoroaster's  mild-heartedness  and  of  his  loving-kindness  toward 
the  good.  In  the  liberality  of  his  spirit,  if  we  are  to  believe 
tradition,  he  was  so  broad-minded  as  to  show  a  willingness  to 
pick  out  and  adopt  what  was  noble  even  in  the  corrupt  exist- 
ing faith. 

But  the  path  for  full  inspiration  must  first  be  prepared,  and 
the  way  to  enlightenment  must  previously  be  laid  open,  before 
the  revelation  comes  to  a  man  of  Zarathushtra's  nature.  Tra- 
dition says  that  Zoroaster  retired  from  the  world  when  he  came 
of  age  and  that  he  lived  for  some  years  upon  a  remote  moun- 
tain in  the  silence  of  the  forest  or  taking  shelter  in  a  lonely 
cave.  In  this  connection  I  have  already  referred  to  Mount 
Savalan  (p.  53),  and  in  Mount  Sahand  there  is  a  cavernous 
vault  which  is  said  to  be  Zoroaster's  cave,  and  a  subterranean 
chamber  near  Maraghah,  with  a  fire-altar,  is  attributed  to  his 
worship.1  It  was  the  solemn  stillness  of  such  surroundings 
that  lifted  his  soul  into  direct  communion  with  God.  A  divine 
vision  is  accorded  him,  apparently  on  the  occasion  of  some 
religious  conference,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty,  after  leaving 
the  Iranian  Sinai,  he  is  prepared  to  teach  a  new  law.  '  Right- 
eousness is  the  best  good'  —  ashem  vohu  vahishtem  astl  —  is 
his  watchword ;  but  he  finds  little  fruitful  soil  for  his  theme. 
He  wanders  over  the  land  of  Iran  and  through  the  territory 
that  is  now  Afghanistan,  and  even  tarries  for  a  time  in  the 
country  of  Turan.  But  it  is  to  deaf  ears  that  he  preaches,  and 
his  inspiration  seems  almost  destined  to  be  in  vain. 

The  rulers  harden  their  hearts  before  the  newly  inspired 
prophet ;  the  people  fail  to  accept  the  message  of  the  god 

1  Mr.  Arter,  of  Ziegler  &  Co.,  Te-  For  the  cave  at  Maraghah  consult  Ker 
heran,  told  me  that  there  is  some  such  Porter,  Travels,  2.  495-497.  See  also 
story  about  a  cave  in  Mount  Sahand.  p.  103,  below. 


62  ZOROASTER   AND    THE  AVESTA 

Ahura  Mazda.  And  yet  Ahura  Mazda,  or  Ormazd,  is  the 
4  Lord  Wisdom,  the  Sovereign  Knowledge.'  It  is  doubtless 
true,  moreover,  that  many  persons  were  deterred  from  adopt- 
ing the  faith  because  of  the  doctrine  of  next-of-kin  marriage, 
which  Zarathushtra  seems  to  have  upheld  because  he  felt  that 
this  would  serve  as  a  means  of  preserving  in  its  purity  and  in- 
tegrity the  community  of  faithful  adherents  and  advancing  the 
struggling  creed  of  his  church  militant. 

For  ten  years,  dervishlike,  he  is  a  wanderer.  This  we  know 
also  from  the  tone  of  dejection  which  still  echoes  in  some  of  the 
Zoroastrian  Psalms.  In  his  peregrinations  he  appears  to  have 
found  his  way  once  more  to  the  region  of  the  Caspian  Sea. 
The  darkness  of  these  sad  years  is  illumined,  however,  by  vi- 
sions which  help  to  make  strong  his  faith  and  to  give  form  to 
his  religious  system  and  creed.  Seven  times  the  mysteries  of 
heaven  are  revealed  to  his  transported  soul;  and  a  number  of 
the  places  where  these  visions  were  beheld  may  be  identified 
with  a  fair  degree  of  certainty.  Most  of  them  are  to  be 
located  in  Azarbaijan  not  far  from  Lake  Urumiah.  He  con- 
verses with  Ormazd  and  is  also  privileged  to  interview  the 
Archangels  of  Good  Thought  (Vohu  Manah),  Best  Right- 
eousness (Asha  Vahishta),  Wished-for  Kingdom  (Khshathra 
Vairya),  Holy  Harmony  (Spenta  Armaiti,  guardian  spirit 
of  the  earth),  Saving  Health  (Haurvatat),  and  Immortality 
(Ameretat).  Such  are  the  names  of  the  Persian  hierarchy  of 
Amshaspands,  and  these  allegorical  figures  or  personified 
abstractions  stand  in  waiting  about  the  throne  of  Ahura 
Mazda  with  a  company  of  attendant  angels.  From  these 
divine  beings  Zarathushtra  receives  commands  and  injunc- 
tions which  he  is  to  convey  to  mankind.  They  inculcate  the 
doctrine  of  purity  of  body  as  well  as  of  soul ;  they  enjoin  the 
care  of  useful  animals,  especially  the  cow  and  the  dog ;  they 
emphasize  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  earth,  the  fire,  and 
the  water  undefiled;  and  from  several  of  their  ordinances 
we  can  see  that  Zoroaster  was  a  civil  reformer  as  well  as  a 


IDEALIZED  PORTRAIT  FROM  A  SCULPTURE  SUPPOSED  TO  REPRESENT  ZOROASTER 


<t 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


REVELATION  AND    TEMPTATION  63 

spiritual  guide.  Foremost  among  the  commandments  is  the 
abhorrence  of  falsehood,  the  universal  obligation  to  speak  the 
truth.  This  is  one  of  the  most  fundamental  of  the  ethical 
tenets  which  form  the  basis  of  the  entire  ancient  Persian  reli- 
gious system. 

A  revelation  of  the  future  is  also  vouchsafed  to  the  soul 
of  the  Prophet  during  his  sojourn  in  the  celestial  council, 
and  one  of  the  most  precious  boons  which  it  is  the  privilege 
of  his  rapt  spirit  to  receive  in  these  moments  of  ecstasy 
is  a  premonition  of  the  resurrection  and  of  the  future  life. 
Unlike  the  Mohammedan  visions  of  ethereal  bliss,  there  is  no 
jarring  note  of  pleasures  of  a  physical  kind  to  mar  the  harmony 
and  spirituality  of  this  glimpse  into  the  world  beyond.  But 
before  the  ecstatic  Messenger  is  allowed  to  return  to  the  world 
of  material  things,  one  word  of  warning  is  given  to  guard  him 
against  the  guile  and  deceit  of  the  Spiritual  Enemy,  Angra 
Mainyu,  or  Ahriman,  as  the  devil  is  called.  At  this  moment, 
as  he  turns  from  the  dazzling  splendor  of  heaven,  a  glimpse  of 
the  darkness,  filth,  stench,  and  torment  of  the  '  Worst  World ' 
is  disclosed.  There  in  the  murky  depths  of  hell,  with  mocking 
howls  and  ribald  jeers,  huddle  together  and  cower  the  vile  crew 
of  the  archfiends  and  whole  legions  of  demons,  or  'devs,'  as 
they  are  still  named  in  Persian. 

Nor  is  this  caution  any  too  timely,  for  at  once  upon  the 
hallowed  Seer's  return  to  earth  there  occurs  the  temptation 
by  Ahriman.  Like  the  wily  Mara  seeking  to  beguile  the 
newly  enlightened  Buddha,  or  the  tempter  Satan  striving 
to  betray  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  the  maleficent  Ahriman 
endeavors  to  cause  the  righteous  Zarathushtra  'to  renounce 
the  good  religion  of  the  worshippers  of  Mazda.'  This  moment 
is  a  crisis  ;  it  is  one  of  the  turning-points  in  the  history  of  the 
faith.  The  foul  fiend  is  repulsed  and  vanquished,  and  the 
victorious  upholder  of  righteousness  chants  a  kind  of  Te 
Deum  —  yathd  ahu  vairyo  —  as  a  paean  of  his  triumph.  But 
he  has  to  face  many  discouragements  in  his  work  ;  only  one 


64  ZOROASTER  AND    THE  A  VEST  A 

convert  to  his  faith  is  won  during  the  first  ten  years  of  his 
preaching.  This  is  his  own  cousin  Maidhyoi-Maonha,  the  St. 
John  of  the  Religion.  In  the  twelfth  year  of  his  mission,  how- 
ever, came  an  achievement  which  made  a  crowning  glory  to 
his  career  ;  this  was  the  conversion  of  King  Vishtaspa,  who 
became  the  Constantine  of  the  faith. 

Exactly  who  this  Vishtaspa,  or  Gushtasp,  was,  we  cannot 
with  certainty  say.  His  name  is  the  same  as  that  of  Hystaspes, 
the  father  of  King  Darius,  but  there  is  no  convincing  ground 
for  identifying  him  with  that  personage.  Whether  he  was  a 
vassal  king  in  Media  itself  or  a  monarch  in  eastern  Iran,  Bac- 
tria,  or  more  probably  the  region  corresponding  to  Afghanistan 
and  Persian  Seistan  to-day,  belongs  to  scholars  to  discuss.1  It 
suffices  here  simply  to  present  this  pious  ruler,  whom  the  Avesta 
portrays  as  the  nonpareil  of  kings,  and  to  recall  how  his  strong 
arm  made  Zoroaster's  religion  current  in  the  Province  of  the 
Sun. 

Vishtaspa  is  converted  only  after  a  long  struggle,  hesitancy, 
and  deliberation  ;  but  when  once  convinced,  he  exhibits  all  the 
zealous  enthusiasm  that  is  characteristic  of  a  new  convert. 
His  queen,  Hutaosa,  whose  name  at  least  recalls  the  name  of 
Atossa  in  Persian  history,  likewise  accepts  the  faith  and  joins 
the  struggling  church.  The  nobles  of  the  court  follow  the 
high  example.  Zoroaster's  own  family  becomes  a  sharer  in  the 
royal  favor.  His  third  wife  —  for  he  was  married  three  times 
—  is  a  sister  of  the  king's  grand  vizir.  His  favorite  daughter 
in  turn  is  given  in  marriage  to  the  other  chief  councillor  of  the 
sovereign.  A  number  of  relatives  of  the  priest  unite  in  the 
confession  of  the  faith.  Converts  become  many.  The  spark 
of  religious  enthusiasm  kindled  in  the  palace  spreads  like  a 
mighty  flame  throughout  the  land.  The  people  press  to  hear 
Zarathushtra  speak.  We  can  still  listen  to  the  verses  of  his 
Gathas  (Psalms)  that  served  as  texts  for  sermons.  Here  is  the 
opening  of  one  of  his  discourses,  in  which  he  tells  of  the  two 

1  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  205-225. 


TWO   ZOROASTRIAN  PSALMS  65 

great  opposing  principles  of  Good  and  of  Evil.     The  verses  are 
rhythmical,  and  in  translating  we  may  follow  the  order  of  the 

lines  :  — 

'  Now  shall  I  preach,  and  do  ye  give  ear  and  hear, 
Ye  who  hither  press  from  near  and  from  afar ! 
Now  mark  him  all,  for  the  Devil  has  been  disclosed 
And  nevermore  shall  he,  Vile  Teacher,  the  world  destroy, 
Wicked  Avower,  he,  of  a  sinful  faith  with  his  tongue. 

4  Now  shall  I  preach  of  the  world's  Two  Primal  Spirits, 
The  Holier  One  of  which  did  thus  address  the  Evil : 
"  Neither  do  our  thoughts,  our  teachings,  nor  our  minds, 
Wishes,  nor  words,  nor  works,  no,  nor  our  religions, 
Nor  do  our  souls  agree  in  anything  at  all."  ' l 

On  another  occasion  the  same  theme  is  taken  up  again  by 
Zoroaster  in  a  Psalm  (Gatha)  which  may  be  termed  an  Iranian 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  In  this  the  priest  bids  his  listeners  to 
be  mindful  of  these  Two  Spirits  which  divide  the  universe 
between  them.  People  must  not  be  deceived  into  making 
a  false  choice,  as  the  demons  have  done  ;  but  they  must 
follow  spiritual  guidance,  so  as  to  be  on  the  right  side  when 
the  judgment  shall  come ;  for  annihilation  shall  then  overtake 
Falsehood  (Druj,  Satan)  and  ruin  shall  attend  upon  the  demons 
and  upon  all  who  ally  themselves  with  them.  Let  every  man, 
therefore,  seek  to  make  the  world  prepared.  In  the  eighth 
verse  the  Prophet  breaks  out  into  a  fervent  expression  of  hope 
of  a  regenerate  world  and  a  new  kingdom  :  — 

*  Therefore  at  the  time  when  the  retribution  of  the  sinful  shall  come  to  pass 
Good  Thought  [Vohu  Manah]  shall  dispense  Thy  Kingdom 

To  the  joy  of  those  who  deliver  over  Falsehood  [Druj]  into  the  hand  of 
Righteousness  [Ash a]. 

1  And  so  may  we  be  such  as  make  the  world  renewed, 
And  do  ye,  Lord  Mazda  and  Righteousness,  bear  your  company, 
That  our  thoughts  may  wholly  be  where  wisdom  is  abiding. 

*  For  at  the  [final]  Dispensation  the  blow  of  annihilation  of   Falsehood 

[Druj]  shall  come  to  pass, 

But  those  who  share  in  a  Good  Report  shall  speedily  unite  together 
In  the  happy  abode  of  Good  Thought,  of  Mazda,  and  of  Righteousness. 

i  Ys.  45.  1-2. 


66  ZOROASTER  AND    THE  AVESTA 

'If,  O  ye  men,  ye  mark  the  doctrines  which  Mazda  gave, 
And  [mark]   the  weal  and  the  woe  —  namely,  the  long  torment  of   the 

wicked 

And  the  welfare  of  the  righteous  —  then  in  accordance  with  these  [doc- 
trines] there  will  be  happiness  hereafter.' l 

Light  begins  to  dawn  upon  the  people.  If  good  and  evil, 
god  and  devil,  are  in  constant  warfare  with  each  other,  what 
is  to  bring  about  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  conflict,  what  is 
to  give  the  victory  to  Ormazd  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  strife  ? 
It  is  man.  Man,  a  free  agent,  shall  solve  the  problem  by  elect- 
ing right  and  choosing  goodness,  if  he  follow  Zoroaster's  lead, 
and  as  his  reward  he  shall  win  joys  eternal  at  the  resurrec- 
tion, 'when  the  dead  again  shall  rise  up,  the  quick  be  made 
immortal,  and  the  world,  as  desired,  made  perfect.' 

But,  exalted  and  spiritual  as  these  religious  tenets  were, 
not  everything  in  the  faith  occupied  so  lofty,  so  perfect,  so 
transcendental  a  plane.  It  is  difficult  for  a  people  to  maintain 
the  high  and  ideal  level  of  the  leader.  The  knowing  and  en- 
lightened may  accept  advanced  theological  doctrines,  but  the 
masses  require  that  which  is  more  practical,  more  tangible. 
Temporal  considerations  and  material  things  cannot  be  left 
out  of  sight  by  any  reformer  when  he  is  founding  his  religion. 
There  is  evidence  of  concessions  being  made  in  Zoroastrianism 
to  previous  religious  views  or  time-honored  practices.  The 
glorification  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  as  part  of  God's  uni- 
verse could  not  be  omitted  from  the  popular  creed.  The 
ancient  divinity  Mithra,  .an  embodiment  of  light  and  of  the 
sun,  as  we  know  from  Tom  Moore's  Fire- War  shippers,  is 
canonized  to  stand  beside  Ormazd.  The  elements  earth,  fire, 
and  water  are  idealized  as  manifestations  of  purity.  Xerxes 
did  pious  homage  to  the  vegetable  kingdom  when  he  decked 
the  plane-tree  as  a  solemn  rite  on  his  way  to  Greece.  Matters 
and  details  of  this  kind  were  unquestionably  recognized  by 
Zoroaster  himself  as  elements  to  be  accepted  into  his  creed,  as 

1  Ys.  so.  8-11. 


LATE  HISTORY  OF   THE  FAITH  67 

he  labored  and  taught,  preached  and  converted,  counselled  and 
encouraged,  during  a  ministry  that  lasted  more  than  thirty 
years.  His  was  a  long  life.  Forty  years  of  age  or  over  when 
he  first  converted  Vishtaspa,  he  lived  until  he  was  seventy- 
seven.  Death  came  to  him  by  violence  in  the  holy  wars  which 
arose  as  a  consequence  of  crusading  for  the  faith,  about  the 
year  B.C.  583.  Such  at  least  is  the  tradition,  or  legend,  for 
there  is  a  story  that  he  was  slain  by  the  fanatical  Turanians 
when  they  invaded  Iran. 

But  the  faith  did  not  perish  with  the  founder.  We  know 
from  history  how  Zoroaster's  creed  was  able  to  withstand  the 
mighty  shock  given  to  it  three  centuries  later  when  Alexander 
invaded  Iran  and  at  the  request  of  the  frail  but  beautiful  Thais 
allowed  the  palace  at  Persepolis  to  be  burned.  It  is  claimed 
that  the  Avesta  perished  in  the  flames ;  but  the  Magian  priest 
still  held  in  memory  the  sacred  texts,  clung  to  the  creed,  and 
upheld  the  tottering  rites.  The  faith  revived  once  more  and 
regained  its  pristine  glory  and  flourished  at  the  very  time 
when  the  Roman  wars  with  Persia  fill  the  pages  of  history 
and  the  Zoroastrian  heresy  of  Manichseism  threatens  to  shake 
the  Christian  church.  The  final  blow,  however,  came  to 
Zoroastrianism  in  the  sixth  century  from  Islam.  From  that 
moment  Persia  practically  adopted  Mohammedanism  and  ceased 
to  be  Zoroastrian.  Only  a  handful  remained  faithful  to  the 
old  creed  and  were  destined  to  endure  countless  sufferings  from 
persecution  in  their  native  land.  Another  band,  equally  stub- 
born, refused  to  be  converted,  and  chose  exile  in  India,  finding 
a  place  of  refuge  in  Bombay  and  its  vicinity,  and  thus  becoming 
the  ancestors  of  the  present  Parsis.  Owing  to  their  favorable 
surroundings  among  the  Hindus  they  have  prospered  more 
than  their  Persian  brethren,  and  like  the  latter  they  have 
remained  genuine  followers  of  the  old-time  faith  of  Zoroaster. 

It  is  these  two  communities  that  have  preserved  for  us 
until  to-day  the  remnants  of  the  ancient  Zoroastrian  scriptures, 
the  Avesta  and  the  Pahlavi  books.  In  its  present  form  the 


68  ZOROASTER  AND    THE  AVESTA 

Avesta  is  only  a  fragment  of  the  original  Zoroastrian  scriptures. 
Tradition  tells  of  twenty-one  books,  or  a  million  of  verses, 
composed  by  Zarathushtra  and  inscribed  in  letters  of  gold 
at  the  order  of  King  Gushtasp,  the  patron  of  the  faith. 
The  destruction  of  the  two  archetype  copies,  the  one  at  Perse- 
polis,  the  other  at  Samarkand,  is  attributed  to  Alexander  the 
Great.1 

Only  imperfect  remnants  of  these  originals  have  been 
preserved  ;  in  compass  they  would  equal  about  one  tenth  of 
our  Bible,  and  as  in  the  latter  we  may  recognize  several  sub- 
divisions with  reference  to  their  contents.  Most  important  is 
the  Yasna,  lit.  '  sacrifice,'  a  liturgical  work,  comprising  also 
the  Grdthds,  or  Psalms  of  Zoroaster,  the  most  sacred  part  of  the 
Avesta,  and  supplemented  by  a  series  of  minor  litanies  known 
as  the  Vlsperad,  4  all  the  lords,'  both  works  being  used  in  the 
ritual  and  forming  a  sort  of  manual  of  devotion  which  corre- 
sponds to  our  prayer-book.  Second  in  interest  are  the  twenty- 
one  Yashts,  lit.  'praises,'  a  collection  of  metrical  hymns  in 
praise  of  the  ancient  divinities  and  mythical  heroes  of  the  reli- 
gion. Third,  and  interesting  in  comparison  with  the  Pentateuch, 
is  a  priestly  code  comprising  twenty-one  chapters  and  entitled 
Vendlddd,  c  law  against  the  demons,'  a  series  of  sacerdotal  rules 
for  the  purification,  and  some  miscellaneous  matter  of  a  legendary 
character.  The  remaining  portion  of  our  present  Avesta  is 
composed  of  minor  prayers,  invocations,  and  miscellaneous 
fragments.2 

The  loss  of  some  parts  of  the  Avesta  is  made  up  for  in  part 
by  versions  or  summaries  in  the  Pahlavi  language  of  the  Middle 

1  See  p.  306,  below,  and  my  article  Books  of  the  East,  Oxford,  1880-1887. 
Some  Additional  Data  on  Zoroaster,  in  There  are  French  translations  by  Dar- 
the  volume   Orientalische   Studien  in  mesteter,  Le  Zend-Avesta,  Paris,  1892- 
honor  of  Professor  Nbldeke,  pp.  1031-  1894,  3  vols.,  and  by  de  Harlez,  Avesta, 
1038,  Strassburg,  1906.  Paris,  1881,  a  German  one  by  Spiegel, 

2  The  best  English  translation  of  the  and  reference  will  be  made  hereafter 
Avesta   is  by  Darmesteter  and  Mills,  to    German  renderings    of   selections 
Zend-Avesta,   3  vols.,  in  the    Sacred  by  Geldner  and  by  Earth olomae. 


THE  SACRED   BOOKS  69 

Persian  Empire,  or  supplemented  again  by  later  Persian  writ- 
ings on  Zoroastrian  subjects  or  by  traditions  which  the  priests 
have  preserved.  Most  important  among  the  Pahlavi  texts  is  a 
work  entitled  Biindahislin,  c  Original  Creation,'  a  sort  of  Iranian 
Genesis  founded  on  one  of  the  original  books  of  the  Avesta 
which  has  been  lost.1 

An  acquaintance  with  the  ancient  Zoroastrian  literature  and 
its  language,  and  a  familiarity  with  the  history  of  the  people 
that  have  preserved  it,  made  me  anxious  to  make  the  journey 
around  Lake  Urumiah,  which  Zoroaster  himself  must  have 
made,  and  I  used  my  own  volume  on  the  Prophet's  life  as  a 
sort  of  handbook  for  the  journey  in  laying  out  my  route 
from  Tabriz  along  the  shores  of  the  historic  lake. 

1  Most  of  the  Pahlavi  books  have      vols. ,  in  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  Eastt 
been  translated  into  English  or  sum-      Oxford,  1880-1897. 
marized  by  West,  Pahlavi    Texts,   5 


CHAPTER   VIII 
AROUND  LAKE   URUMIAH 

'  Wer  den  Dichter  will  verstehen 
Muss  in  Dichters  Lande  gehen.' 

—  GOETHE,  Westostlicher  Divan. 

IN  spite  of  rumors  of  deep  snow  I  ventured  to  undertake 
the  journey  around  Lake  Urumiah  from  Tabriz  to  the  city  of 
Urumiah  by  wagon.  I  was  warned  in  advance  by  one  of  my 
friends  that  if  I  tried  to  drive,  I  should  be  sure  to  wish  I  had 
ridden,  and  if  I  started  on  horseback,  I  should  be  certain  to 
regret  not  having  gone  by  carriage.  Events  proved  the  truth 
of  his  words.  The  '  roads '  were  in  a  vile  condition,  and  the 
journey,  which  ordinarily  occupies  three  or  four  days,  took 
me  six. 

For  the  first  forty-eight  hours  I  had  the  companionship  of 
two  Persians  whom  we  overtook  on  the  road ;  they  were  also 
driving.  One  of  them  was  a  native  of  the  village  of  Khosrova, 
near  Dilman,  northwest  of  the  lake,  and  was  on  his  way  home 
from  Meshad  in  eastern  Persia.1  The  other  was  connected 
with  the  bank  at  Teheran.  The  latter  was  a  particularly 
fine-looking  fellow,  with  handsome  eyes,  clear-cut  features,  and 
a  tall,  well-developed  frame.  He  wore  on  his  head  a  hood,  the 
ends  of  which  formed  a  scarf  to  wrap  about  his  face  as  a  pro- 
tection against  the  cold.  This  made  him  look  like  a  veritable 

1  Is  it  possible  that  Khosrova  pre-  or  does  it  owe  its  name  to  the  later 
serves  a  lingering  reminiscence  of  the  Sasanian  king  Khosra  Parviz  ?  I  find 
Avestan  king  Haosravah,  who  sacri-  that  this  suggestion  has  been  previously 
ficed  '  on  the  other  side  of  Lake  Chae-  made  by  Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.  2.  632, 
chista'  (Lake  Urumiah),  Yt.  5.  49,  n.  92. 

70 


THE    SNOWS    OF    AZARBAIJAN  71 

portrait  of  Darius  Codomannus  at  the  battle  of  Issus,  a  repro- 
duction of  which  has  been  given  above. 

The  temperature  must  have  registered  nearly  zero  during  the 
first  two  days  of  the  trip,  although  I  never  had  the  courage  to 
consult  the  thermometer  which  was  stowed  away  somewhere  in 
my  baggage.  In  the  daytime  I  was  compelled  to  wear  my  sleep- 
ing-jacket over  my  head  to  shield  my  frost-bitten  face  from  the 
congealing  wind,  and  as  evening  fell  I  muffled  a  bathrobe  over 
this  to  add  some  warmth.  I  envied  any  one  whose  lot  it  might 
be  to  make  the  journey  in  midsummer  instead  of  in  winter,  and 
I  understood  why  the  Avesta  regarded  winter  as  '  the  work  of 
demons '  and  said  that  it  was  created  by  Ahriman  as  a  blight  to 
mar  the  perfection  of  Airyana  Vaejah,  the  Azarbaijan  of  to-day, 
which  otherwise  would  have  been  a  paradise.1  In  this  land  the 
Vendidad  says '  there  are  ten  months  of  winter  and  two  months 
of  summer.'2  A  gloss,  it  is  true,  changes  the  text  to  'five 
months  of  winter  and  seven  months  of  summer,'  but  judging 
from  my  own  discomfort  (for  March  seemed  in  the  Avestan 
words  to  be  the  very  4  heart  of  winter,'  zimahe  zaredhaem),  I 
felt  inclined  to  agree  with  the  original  reading.  My  discom- 
fort was  tempered,  however,  by  the  thought  that  the  region 
through  which  I  was  travelling  had  probably  once  been  trav- 
ersed by  Zoroaster,  and  this  added  a  zest  to  my  observations 
en  route  as  the  trail  meandered  forward  along  the  northern 
shore  of  the  lake. 

Lake  Urumiah  is  the  largest  body  of  water  in  Persia, 
although  not  quite  so  large  as  our  Great  Salt  Lake  in  Utah, 
which  is  about  seventy-five  miles  long  and  from  thirty  to  fifty 
broad,  the  Persian  lake  being  about  eighty  miles  in  length 
and  averaging  twenty-four  miles  in  breadth.  Both  of  these 
bodies  of  salt  water  lie  about  four  thousand  feet  above  the  level 

1  See    Vd.     1.    2,    zyymca    daevo-  trast  between  summer  and  winter  in 

ddtdm.     The  heat  near  the  northern  Azarbaijan'    (Wilson,    Persian   Life, 

shore    of    Lake    Urumiah     is    corre-  p.  83). 
spondingly  great  in  midsummer :  '  no  2  Vd.  1.  3. 

place  shows  better  than  this  the  con- 


72  AROUND    LAKE    U  RUM  I  AH 

of  the  sea,  and  neither  has  any  outlet.  The  waters  of  both 
are  intensely  saline  and  vary  considerably  in  volume  accord- 
ing to  the  condition  of  the  mountain  streams  that  feed  them ; 
but  the  average  depth  in  each  case  is  considerably  less  than 
twenty  feet.  Other  resemblances  might  be  pointed  out,  but 
enough  have  been  indicated  to  show  the  parallel  between  the 
two. 

About  the  shores  of  Lake  Urumiah  there  are  level  plains, 
sometimes  covering  an  area  of  many  square  miles,  such  as  the 
great  Plain  of  Urmi  on  the  western  border,  and  there  are 
high  mountains  lying  beyond  them  on  all  sides  of  the  lake. 
These  sometimes  thrust  their  spurs  down  to  the  very  edge  of 
the  water,  as  does  the  ridge  of  the  Karabagh  mountain  on 
the  northwest  (six  thousand  feet  high),  and  the  offshoots  of  the 
great  mountain  of  Sahand  on  the  east  (over  eleven  thousand 
feet).  A  few  small  islands  dot  the  surface  of  the  lake  toward 
the  south-central  part,  and  from  the  middle  of  the  eastern 
shore  the  mountain  peninsula  of  Shahi,  or  Shah  Kuh,  juts  out. 
This  tongue  of  land  was  once  an  island  twenty-five  miles  in 
circumference,  but  it  has  become  a  part  of  the  mainland, 
because  the  lake  has  lowered  somewhat.1  Of  recent  years, 
however,  the  volume  of  water  has  tended  again  to  increase,  so 
that  considerable  fluctuations  in  the  outline  of  the  shores  are 
still  taking  place.  To-day  there  is  no  navigation  on  Lake 
Urumiah  except  what  is  carried  on  by  means  of  clumsy  scows 
propelled  by  primitive  oars  and  sails. 

We  can  trace  the  history  of  Lake  Urumiah  far  back  into 
antiquity,  even  to  Zoroaster's  time  and  still  earlier.  The 
region  was  familiar  to  the  Assyrian  kings  as  the  scene  of  some 
of  their  active  campaigns,  and  the  lake  appears  in  their  inscrip- 

1  Yakut,  who  passed  by  Lake  Uru-  island   in   his   day    (1810-1830)  ;    cf. 

miah  twice  (A.H.  612,  617  =  A. D.  1215,  Curzon,    Persia,    1.    532.     Similarly, 

1220),  speaks  of  the  mountain  island  Perkins    (1843)    calls    it    an    island, 

in  the  midst  of  the  lake  (see  Barbier  de  *  which  is  much  of  the  year  a  penin- 

Meynard,  Diet.  geog.  p.  86),  and  Sir  sula'    (Eight    Years    in    Persia,    p. 

J.  Macdonald  Kinneir  reports  it  as  an  170). 


DESCRIPTION    OF    THE    LAKE 


73 


tions  as  the  'lake  of  the  land  Nairi.'1  It  was  known  in  the 
Avesta  by  the  name  of  Chaechasta,  which  the  Arab  geogra- 
phers corrupted  through  Chiz  into  Shiz.2  The  Avesta  calls  it 
4  deep '  (jafra),  which  may  be  an  appropriate  epithet  accord- 
ing to  the  ideas  of  the  ancient  Persians,  who  were  unacquainted 
with  our  great  lakes;  but  its  average  depth  hardly  exceeds 
fifteen  feet.  The  characteristic  Avestan  attribute,  however, 
which  is  applied  likewise  to  the  Caspian,  is  urvdpa,  uruydpa, 
4  whose  water  is  salt.'3  Lake  Urumiah  is  so  briny  that  fish  are 
not  found  in  its  waters,  and  the  only  occupant  appears  to  be  a 
small  crustacean.  The  Pahlavi  treatise  Bundahishn,  which 
several  times  mentions  Lake  Chechast,  expressly  states  that 
'there  is  nothing  whatever  living  in  it.'4  Ibn  Haukal,  in  the 
tenth  century,  makes  a  similar  statement.5  As  for  the  modern 


1  So  Schrader,  Die  Namen  der  Meere 
in  den  assyrischen  Inschriften,  in  Abh. 
d.  AJcad.  d.  Wiss.  zu  Berlin,  1877,  pp. 
184-193.     For  the  relations  between 
Lake    Urumiah    and    Lake  Van,  see 
Streck,  Armenien,  Kurdistan  und  West- 
persien,  in  Zt.  f.  Assyriologie,  13.  11. 
The  fact  that  the  region  of  the  lake 
and  city  of  Urumiah  is  alluded  to  in 
the  Assyrian  inscriptions  is  accepted 
by  Ward,  Notes  on  Oriental  Antiqui- 
ties in  American  Journal  of  Archce- 
ology,  6.  286,  and  by  others.  We  might 
be  tempted  to  seek  the  name  of  Uru- 
miah, or  Urmi,  in  the  Assyrian  Urume, 
but  see  Streck,  op.  cit.  pp.  23-24. 

2  See  p.  131.    The  actual  Avestan 
form  is  Vairi  Caecasta  (or  Caetista), 
Yt.  5.  49  ;  Ny.  5.  5  ;  Sir.  2.  9.     On  the 
name   Slz  (Clz)  see  my  Zoroaster, 
pp.  195,  197,  201-202,  204. 

8  Such  seems  to  be  the  force  of  Av. 
urvdpa,  uruydpa,  as  first  pointed  out 
by  Darmesteter,  Etudes  Iraniennes, 
2.  179.  See  also  Geldner,  Vedische 
Studien,  2.  270,  Stuttgart,  1897,  de- 
spite Bartholomae,  Altiranisches  Wor- 


terbuch,  p.  404,  Strassburg,  1905. 
The  Pahlavi  tradition  sees  in  this  epi- 
thet 'warm  water,'  garmdb,  garmid. 
Shall  we  venture  to  compare  Avestan 
Uru-dpa,  Uruy-dpa,  'having  salt  (or 
warm)  water,'  with  the  modern  name 
Ur-mi,  Ur-mia(Ji),  'Urumiah,'  which 
the  natives  commonly  understood  as 
'  place  of  water '  (the  last  element  be- 
ing the  Semitic  word  for  water)  ?  On 
Pahlavi  tfetast  see  also  Rosenberg, 
Livre  de  Zoroastre,  pp.  xxviii,  74. 

4  Bd.  22.  2  ;  cf.  17.  7  ;  23.   8  ;  and 
Bahman  Yasht,  3.  10. 

5  Ibn  Haukal,  tr.  Ouseley,  p.  162 : 
'  There  is  a  lake  in  Azarbaijan  called 
the  Lake  of  Armiah  (Urumiah)  ;  the 
water  is  salt  or  bitter  and  contains  not 
any  living  creature.     All  round  this 
lake  are  villages  and  buildings ;  from 
the  lake  to  Maraghah  is  a  distance  of 
three  farsang ;  to  Armi  (Urmi,  Uru- 
miah), two  farsang.     The  length  of 
this  lake  is  five  days'  journey  by  land  ; 
and  by  water,  with  a  fair  wind,  a  per- 
son may  traverse  it  in  the  space  of  one 
night.' 


74  AROUND    LAKE    URUMIAH 

name  of  the  lake,  the  natives  generally  term  it  Dariah-i  Shahi, 
or  4  Royal  Sea,'  after  the  mountain  peninsula  of  Shahi,  or  Shah 
Kuh,  mentioned  above.  The  early  Greek  geographer  Strabo 
mentions  it  under  the  name  of  Spauta  (written  ^jravra  in 
the  Mss.),  which  is  supposed  to  be  an  error  for  Kapauta,  the 
Persian  Kabuda,  lit.  4  blue,  cerulean ' ; 1  but  since  my  return 
to  America  I  heard  two  natives  of  Urumiah  apply  the  name 
'.Spaut'  to  the  lake,  although  I  did  not  hear  it  so  called 
while  I  was  in  Azarbaijan.2  The  Arab  writer  Masudi  uses 
the  name  Kabudhdn,  saying  the  lake  is  so  called  after  the  vil- 
lage of  Kabodhan  on  an  island  in  the  lake ;  3  but  the  attribute 
'cerulean'  is  more  probably  due  to  the  color  of  the  water, 
which  presents  a  succession  of  blues  melting  into  purples, 
mingled  with  ultramarine  and  green  —  hues  which  were  all 
the  more  conspicuous  against  a  background  of  snowy  moun- 
tains and  a  shore  whitened  with  crystals  of  salt  due  to  the 
incrustation  of  saline  deposits.  The  old  name  Shiz,  or  Chae- 
chasta,  seems  absolutely  to  have  disappeared,  as  I  could  find  no 
trace  or  reminiscence  of  it  among  the  people,  although  I 
inquired  again  and  again  during  the  two  weeks  or  more  which 
I  spent  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lake.4 

The  heavy  floods  and  inundations  through  which  we  had  to 
make  our  way  during  a  part  of  the  journey  around  Lake  Uru- 
miah made  the  Avestan  word  voighna,  'inundation,  over- 
whelming flood,  deluge,'  a  living  reality.6  The  disasters  and 
misery  which  follow  in  the  wake  of  these  winter  freshets  are 
as  evident  to-day  as  they  were  in  ages  past.  Twice  we  had  to 
descend  to  help  the  horses,  which  had  been  carried  off  their  feet 

1  So,  for  example,  Marquart,  Eran-  86,  who  cites  the  authority  of  Saint- 
Sahr,  p.  143.  Martin,  Mem.  sur  VArmenie,  1.  56  seq. 

2  They  were    Nestorians,   and  the  Compare  also  Bittner,  Der  Kurdengau 
designation  may  be  Syriac.  Ushnuje  und  die   Stadt   Urumije,   in 

8  Marquart,  Erdnsahr,  p.  143.  Sb.  Akad.  Wiss.  133,  AbhL3,  pp.  1-97, 

4  For  additional   details    regarding  Wien,  1895  ;  Marquart,  Erdnsahr,  p. 

Lake  Urumiah  see  Barbier  de  Mey-  143 ;  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  532-534. 

nard,  Diet.  geog.  de  la  Perse,  pp.  85-  6  Vd.  1.  3 ;  Ys.  57.  14. 


SHEEP    AND    BIRDS  75 

by  the  treacherous  caving-in.  of  the  bank  of  a  stream.  It  was 
often  a  matter  of  the  greatest  difficulty  to  find  a  safe  ford,  but 
the  natives  seemed  to  have  a  remarkable  instinct  for  discover- 
ing crossings.  There  were  few  bridges,  if  any,  and  I  could 
understand  why  it  was  a  pious  act,  according  to  the  Zoroas- 
trian  faith,  to  build  a  bridge,  and  why  this  practice  was  enjoined 
also  upon  the  worshippers  of  Ormazd  as  one  means  of  penance 
for  expiating  the  sin  of  having  killed  an  otter  —  a  sacred 
animal  in  the  eyes  of  Zoroaster.1 

Wherever  there  was  a  trace  of  stubbly  grass,  large  flocks  of 
sheep  and  goats  were  cropping  it.  The  color  of  most  of  these 
was  black  or  brown ;  the  few  white  sheep  among  the  number 
were  conspicuous  in  contrast  to  the  others.  This  made  clear 
to  me  a  Zoroastrian  simile  which  had  always  been  a  puzzling 
one.  The  Pahlavi  book  of  the  Bundahishn,  in  describing  the 
Day  of  Judgment,  says  that  at  the  last  day,  when  the  souls  are 
gathered  together  in  a  great  assembly  after  the  resurrection, 
4  a  wicked  man  shall  be  as  conspicuous  in  that  assembly  as 
a  white  sheep  among  the  black.'2  The  white  sheep  was 
certainly  the  marked  one  in  the  flocks  I  saw  on  this  journey. 

My  observations  of  some  of  the  birds  of  Azarbaijan,  the 
lark,  thrush,  and  long-tailed  magpie,  were  only  incidental,  but 
I  took  more  careful  note  of  the  crow,  raven,  eagle,  and  vulture, 
because  those  are  especially  mentioned  in  the  Avesta.  The 
crow  is  seen  everywhere.  The  raven  is  still  more  plentiful 
and  flies  in  enormous  flocks.  On  one  occasion  I  counted  over 
a  thousand  of  these  birds  in  a  field  near  Lake  Urumiah.  So 
far  as  my  observations  went,  the  raven  appears  to  be  more 
common  in  northern  Iran  than  it  is  in  the  south,  but  this  fact 
may  have  been  due  to  migration  at  the  time  when  I  made  my 
notes,  or  to  some  accidental  cause.  The  bird  is  large  in  size, 

1  Vd.  14.  16.  1868;  Westergaard,  Bund.  p.  73,  Copen- 

2  Bd.   30.   10,   anddr    an  anjuman  hagen,  .1851;  Unvalla,  Bund.    p.   85, 
darvand  aetuno  petak  clgun  gospand  Bombay,  1897;  and  the  translation  of 
i  spet  andar  an  sldk  bet.     See  the  text  West,  Pahlavi  Texts,  in  Sacred  Books 
of  Justi,  Bundehesh,  p.  73,  Leipzig,  of  the  East,  5.  123,  Oxford,  1880. 


76  AROUND    LAKE    URUMIAH 

with  a  glossy  bill  and  sleek  wings.  I  wondered  whether  the 
martial  bird  vdreghna,  vdrenjina  in  the  Avesta,  a  feather  of 
whose  wing  was  used  by  the  warrior  as  an  amulet,  might  possibly 
be  identified  with  the  raven.1  The  raven  was  the  bird  of  battle 
among  the  Anglo-Saxons  and  other  Germanic  peoples,  and 
the  symbol  upon  the  crest  of  Verethraghna,  the  Iranian  Mars, 
on  the  coins  of  the  Indo-Scythian  kings,  may  be  the  raven.2 
The  only  other  bird  that  would  answer  well  to  the  description 
of  the  vdrenjina  is  the  peregrine  falcon,  which  is  noted  for  its 
swiftness  of  flight  and  habits  of  prey.  It  can  hardly  be  the 
ordinary  falcon,  as  that  was  a  bird  of  sport  in  Persia,  as  else- 
where; nor  was  it  the  eagle,  for  that  is  called  saena  in  the 
Avesta.3  The  eagle,  however,  abounds  in  the  mountainous 
regions  of  Iran,  and  I  could  understand  why  Xenophon  should 
have  represented  Cyrus  as  taking  omens  from  eagles.4  More- 
over, as  I  watched  the  soaring  flight  of  this  king  of  birds  above 
the  peaks,  I  was  forcibly  reminded  of  the  name  of  that  lofty 
range  in  eastern  Iran,  Updiri-saena,  'Above-the-Eagle,'  whose 
height,  according  to  the  Avesta,  surmounted  even  the  eagle's 
flight.6  The  vulture  (to  which  bird  as  well  as  to  the  dog  the 
Magians  used  to  throw  the  bodies  of  their  dead  to  be  torn)  is 
found  in  Azarbaijan,  but  in  numbers  it  did  not  seem  so  plenti- 

1  Yt.  14.   19-22 ;  14.  35-40.     I  find  ed.  Darab  D.  P.  Sanjana,  pp.  16-17, 
that  this  view  has  the  support  of  the  Bombay,  1896,  although  Darab  San- 
authority  of  Darab,  as  cited  by  Justi,  jana    (loc.   cit.}   calls  it    an    'eagle' 
Handbuch  der  Zendsprache,  s.v.,  and  (reading  luk),  and    Peshotanji,   Nol- 
of  Tir  Andaz  and  Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.  deke,  and  Antia   (the  latter,  Kdrnd- 
2.    566,    n.   29    (which    Bartholomae,  mak,  p.  16,  Bombay,  1900)  interpret 
Air.    Wb.    pp.    1411,    1412,     brands  the  Pahlavi  word  in  this  passage  as 
as   'falsch').     Geldner,   Drei   Yasht,  'ram'  (reading  vardk}. 
p.    65,    n.     1,     suggests    the    hawk,  2  See  Stein,  Zoroastrian  Deities  on 
'habicht,'  as  a  possibility.     The  Bun-  Indo- Scythian  Coins,  in  Indian  Anti- 
dahishn,  14.  23,  calls  the  raven  vardk  qitary,    17.    207,    London,    1877  =  re- 
(the  Modern  Persian  word  for  crow,  print,  p.  14,  Bombay,  1888. 
kaldgh,  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  3  From   saena   mdrdya    comes   the 
this),  and  this  is  apparently  the  bird  name  of  the  mythical  bird  Simurgh. 
of  victory  which   accompanied   King  *  Xenophon,    Cyropaedia,   2.  1.  1 ; 
Ardavan    according    to    the    Pahlavi  2.  4.  19. 
Kdrndme-i     Artakhshir-i     Pdpakdn,  6  Yt.  19.  3;  Ys.  10.  11. 


PERSIAN    DOGS  77 

ful  as  I  expected,  perhaps  owing  to  the  cold  season  at  the 
time  when  I  was  there.1 

The  dogs  formed  a  special  object  of  notice  because  of  the 
esteem  in  which  they  were  formerly  held  among  the  ancient 
Zoroastrians,  although  now  despised  by  the  Mohammedans 
except  for  hunting  and  as  watch-dogs.  So  far  as  my  knowl- 
edge goes,  the  Avesta  is  the  only  Oriental  work  which  is  highly 
complimentary  to  the  dog.  It  is  true  that  he  was  venerated  in 
Egypt,  but  in  India  the  Sanskrit  writers  usually  speak  of  him 
in  derogatory  terms,  and  so  do  the  Hebrews  in  the  Bible.2  A 
special  sanctity,  however,  is  attached  to  the  animal  in  the  Ven- 
didad,  and  three  chapters  of  this  sacerdotal  work  are  devoted 
to  the  faithful  friend  of  man.3  Amid  the  high  praises  of  the 
canine  virtues,  the  text  does  not  hesitate  to  call  attention  to 
certain  vices,  so  that  the  eulogy  does  not  degenerate  into  mere 
flattery.4  My  observations  of  dogs  were  not  confined  to  Azarbai- 
jan,  but  were  continued  throughout  the  journey,  south,  east,  and 
north. 

The  typical  dog  of  northern  Iran,  Transcaspia,  and  Turkis- 
tan  is  a  large  brute,  resembling  the  mastiff  in  size,  tawny  in 
color,  and  roughish  in  coat,  although  the  hair  may  be  thinner 
and  smoother  in  summer.  In  appearance  he  is  somewhat  wolf- 
ish, and  in  temper  extremely  savage.  These  wolfish  char- 
acteristics corroborate  the  allusions  in  the  Vendidad  to  the 
nature  of  the  hybrid  sprung  from  a  dog  and  a  wolf.5  Most  of 
the  village  dogs  in  the  outlying  districts  of  Azarbaijan  have 
their  ears  cropped  quite  close  to  the  head,  their  masters  adopting 

iVd.  6.  45,  46;  7.  30;  3.  20;   He-  New  York,  1905.     Among  Occidental 

rodotus,  Hist.  1.  140 ;   3.  16  ;  Cicero,  writers  Dante  and  Shakspere  do  not 

Tusc.  Disput.  1.  45.  hesitate  occasionally  to  give  the  dog  a 

2  An    exception    may   perhaps    be  metaphorical  kick. 

found  in  Vedic  times,  when  the  dog  8  See  Fargards  13,   14,   16  of  the 

seems  to  have  enjoyed  a  better  repu-  Vendidad,  and  consult  Hovelacque,  Le 

tation ;  cf.  Hopkins,   The  Dog  in  the  Chien  dans  V Avesta,  Paris,  1876. 

Rig-Veda,  in  Am.  Journ.  Philol.  15.  *  See  especially  Vd.  13.  44-48. 

154-163,   Baltimore,  1894.       Compare  •  yd.  13.  41-43. 
ulso  Watson,  The  Dog  Book,  1.  15-20, 


78  AROUND    LAKE    URUMIAH 

this  practice  to  prevent  the  ears  of  the  creatures  from  being 
torn  in  the  fierce  fights  in  which  they  constantly  indulge. 

One  of  the  best  opportunities  which  I  had  for  noticing  dogs 
was  later  at  the  city  of  Urumiah  itself,  where  I  once  saw  a 
motley  collection  of  a  dozen  or  more  dogs  gathered  about  the 
slaughter-house.  Here  I  observed  a  good  specimen  of  the 
4  white  dog  with  yellow  ears,'  which  the  Vendidad  enjoins  as 
one  of  the  two  dogs  to  be  used  in  the  sag-did  ceremony  of  exor- 
cising the  spirit  of  death.1  The  second  kind  of  dog  required  for 
the  Avestan  rite,  namely  a  '  yellow  dog  with  four  eyes  '  -  -  that 
is,  with  two  spots  above  the  eyes —  I  did  not  specifically  see. 
The  spots  over  the  eyes  are  apparently  less  common,  which 
may  account  for  the  value  of  such  dogs  in  the  ancient  cere- 
monies, and  some  European  friends  gave  me  the  interesting 
information  that  the  German  dachshund  loses  the  tan  spots 
over  his  eyes  after  a  generation  or  two  in  Persia. 

Besides  the  tawny  or  yellowish  village  dog,  the  black,  white, 
and  parti-colored  dog  is  also  to  be  seen,  especially  in  the  towns. 
As  a  rule  they  are  smaller  in  the  cities  than  in  the  country  and 
partake  more  of  the  mongrel  type.  Curiously  enough,  the 
village  dog,  despite  his  savage  courage,  especially  toward 
strangers,  proved  to  be  in  absolute  dread  of  being  'shot'  by 
the  snap  of  a  camera.  It  took  me  nearly  a  week  before  I 
succeeded  in  getting  a  photograph  of  the  typical  village  dog  of 
Azarbaijan,  but  I  finally  succeeded  at  a  hamlet  between  Dilman 
and  Guchi,  by  decoying  the  animal  with  egg-shells  that  I  had 
thrown  away  after  a  hasty  meal. 

The  stages  of  my  journey  as  far  as  Dilman  in  the  Plain  of 
Salmas,  northwest  of  the  lake,  were  slow,  averaging  not  more 
than  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  a  day,  with  stops  for  the  night 
at  the  villages  of  Dizah-Khalil 2  and  Tazvich.  Dilman  was 
reached  in  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  March  22.  This  town 
is  one  of  the  largest  places  in  the  plain,  but  its  manzil  seemed 

1  Vd.  8.  10  ;  see  my  article  inJAOS.  2  See  p.  91,  n.  1,  below. 

25.  182-183,  and  cf .  p.  388,  below. 


DILMAN    AND    SUM  AT    DAGHI  79 

little  more  than  a  shelter,  nor  was  I  attracted  by  an  invitation  to 
visit  the  tea-house  near-by,  which  I  later  learned  was  an  opium 
den.  The  carcass  of  a  dead  horse  lying  in  the  stream  that 
runs  through  the  town  seemed  characteristic  of  the  place,  but 
the  people  appeared  to  be  kindly  disposed  to  a  stranger  and 
showed  something  of  a  holiday  spirit,  as  they  had  put  on  their 
best  clothes  to  celebrate  the  season  of  No-Ruz  and  also  Sunday, 
which  is  always  a  special  '  bazaar-day,'  the  regular  Mohamme- 
dan Sabbath  being  Friday. 

I  left  Dilman  the  next  morning  at  eight,  with  the  weather 
bleak  and  dreary.  In  about  two  hours  we  came  to  an  inter- 
esting old  Armenian  cemetery  which  is  situated  on  a  hil- 
lock near  a  small  village.  To  reach  this  graveyard  I  had  to 
leave  the  wagon  and  wade  through  snow  and  water  for  nearly 
half  a  mile.  An  inscription  on  a  large  monument  near  the 
summit  ascribes  the  founding  of  the  burying-ground  to  the 
Mamikonians,  an  ancient  heroic  family  of  Armenia,  and  I  ob- 
served a  number  of  grave-stones  rudely  shaped  like  a  ram,  a 
common  image  in  old  Armenian  burial-places.  I  noticed  also 
one  long  Syriac  inscription,  but  the  letters  were  almost  illeg- 
ible. 

After  a  short  stay  on  the  hillock  I  proceeded  on  my  journey 
to  see  the  Sasanian  bas-relief  of  the  horsemen,  which  I  knew 
was  carved  on  the  side  of  a  rocky  hill  called  Surat  Daghi, 
'  Picture  Mountain,'  somewhere  on  the  road  between  Dilman 
and  Guchi.  Shortly  before  noon  we  reached  a  tiny  hamlet 
and  found  that  we  had  passed  the  hill  of  the  sculptures,  hav- 
ing met  no  one  on  the  deserted  plain  who  knew  precisely  where 
the  carvings  were  located.  Accordingly  I  took  a  guide  and 
returned  on  foot  through  mud  and  snow  for  a  distance  of  nearly 
three  miles  in  order  to  examine  the  bas-reliefs. 

The  sculptures  are  carved  about  a  hundred  feet  above  the 
plain  on  the  face  of  a  somewhat  precipitous  rock,  and  are 
undoubtedly  Sasanian  in  origin,  as  they  present  all  the  char- 
acteristic features  of  the  bas-reliefs  at  Tak-i  Bostan,  Naksh-i 


80  „  AROUND    LAKE    U  RUM  I  AH 

Rustam,  and  Naksh-i  Rajab.  The  group  is  composed  of  four 
figures,  two  mounted  and  two  standing.  The  equestrian  figures 
are  royal  personages,  apparently  represented  in  the  act  of  receiv- 
ing crowns  from  the  two  unmounted  figures,  which  look  like 
vassals  and  almost  resemble  grooms.  The  first  of  the  mounted 
individuals  appears  to  be  older  than  the  other  and  wears  a 
mustache  and  apparently  also  a  beard;  the  second  is  younger 
and  looks  almost  smooth-faced,  but  on  closer  examination  this 
absence  of  the  beard  is  only  apparent,  not  real,  being  due  to  a 
mutilation  of  the  lower  part  of  the  face  by  some  iconoclast.1 
Both  figures  wear  the  familiar  balloon-shaped  head-gear  with 
streamers  floating  out  behind  and  a  scarf  or  veil  fluttering  from 
below  the  shoulders.  The  cloak  about  the  shoulders  of  each  is 
clasped  in  an  easy  manner,  the  garment  of  the  elder  personage 
being  the  more  elaborate.  Each  horseman  grasps  the  reins  of 
his  steed  with  the  left  hand,  which  rests  at  the  same  time  upon 
the  hilt  of  a  long,  straight  sword;  while  the  right  hand  is 
extended  to  receive  some  proffered  gift,  which  is  hidden  behind 
the  horse's  head  in  the  first  case,  but  looks  like  a  chaplet  in  the 
case  of  the  second  cavalier.  The  close-fitting  coat  or  tunic,  the 
baggy  trousers  flowing  in  rich  drapery  from  the  knees,  and 
more  elaborately  carved  in  the  case  of  the  elder  personage  than 
in  that  of  the  younger,  together  with  the  heavy  caparison  of 
the  horses,  which  includes  a  massive  chain  and  ball  swinging 
at  the  left  flank,  are  typical  of  sculpture  of  the  Sasanian 
dynasty.  The  pose  of  the  two  horsemen  is  lifelike  and 
spirited,  although  the  workmanship  is  imperfect. 

The  men  on  foot  are  represented  as  bareheaded  and  with 
beards,  mustaches,  and  hair  bushy  at  the  sides.  The  face  of 
the  left  figure  is  much  mutilated,  but  that  of  the  right  is  pre- 

1  My  note-book  has  the  memoran-  Porter's  sketch,  which  represents  the 

dum  '  smooth-faced '  corrected  to  *  no,  figure  as  having  a  full  beard  (  Travels 

hardly  '  upon  a  more  careful  inspec-  in  Persia,  2.  597,  pi.  82),  as  well  as  by 

tion  of  the  stone,  and  this  is  confirmed  the  drawing  of   Flandin  and  Coste, 

by  the  photograph,  which  shows  the  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  4.  pi.  204- 

mutilation  of  the  rock,  and  by  Ker  205,  and  Texier,  Description,  1.  pi.  40. 


02 


SASANIAN    BAS-RELIEF    OF    THE    HORSEMEN  81 

served  with  sufficient  clearness  to  show  details,  including  what 
seems  to  be  a  collar  or  band  about  the  neck.  Both  individuals 
are  clad  in  a  simple  manner,  the  upper  garment  being  a  tunic- 
like  coat,  the  lower  being  huge  bulging  trousers.  There  is  a 
double  belt  about  the  waist  of  each,  but  no  sword  is  noticeable, 
nor  is  there  any  characteristic  accoutrement  or  decoration,  but 
from  the  forearm  of  the  figure  on  the  right  there  hangs  a  pen- 
dant that  looks  like  a  circlet  suspended  by  a  short  band. 

The  generally  accepted  identification  of  the  group  is  that 
the  bas-relief  represents  Ardashir  Papakan,  the  first  Sasa- 
nian  king,  and  his  son  Sapor,  receiving  the  submission 
of  the  Armenians,  an  event  that  occurred  about  A.D.  230, 
to  which  period  the  sculptures  approximately  belong.1 

My  examination  of  the  sculptures  took  me  some  time,  and 
on  the  way  back  I  became  separated  from  my  servant  and  the 
guide,  who  had  gone  to  search  for  an  article  I  had  lost  on  the 
way,  so  that  I  had  some  anxiety  about  finding  the  road  to 
the  hamlet  alone  ;  but  the  servants  finally  came  up,  and  we  all 
returned  together  to  the  little  settlement  of  mud  hovels,  and 
there  I  had  something  to  eat,  and  succeeded  in  getting  with  my 
camera  a  snapshot  of  the  Azarbaijan  dog  to  which  I  have 
already  referred. 

The  afternoon  was  well  advanced  when  the  journey  was  re- 
sumed, and  we  turned  our  faces  southward  to  cross  the  Kara- 
bagh  ridge,  over  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  The  snow 
lay  almost  as  deep  as  it  did  in  the  Avestan  winter  of  Yima 
(Jamshid),2  and  it  grew  heavier  and  heavier  as  we  ascended 
the  mountain,  until  about  half-past  four  the  track  was  finally 

1  So  Justi,  Empire  of  the  Persians,  Travels,  2.  599,  who  attributed  an  Ar- 

2.259;    Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.   91.  menian  origin  to  the  sculpture,  and  saw 

We  have  an  incidental  allusion  also  in  the  two  horsemen  the  Roman  em- 

to   the    opposition     of    Armenia    to  peror  Galerius  and  the  Persian  king 

Ardashir's    authority  in    the    Kama-  Narses,  the  latter  making  concessions 

mak-i  Artakhshir-i  Papakan,  6.  2(ed.  to    the    Armenian    prince    Tiridates. 

Darab     Sanjana,    p.     24,     Bombay,  But  this  explanation  of  the  sculpture 

1896).     A    different    explanation    of  seems  doubtful, 
the   scene   is  given  by    Ker    Porter,          2  See  Vd.  2.  22. 


82  AROUND    LAKE    URUMIAH 

lost  in  drifts  as  high  as  the  horses'  backs.  We  could  proceed 
no  farther  for  the  nonce,  and  there  seemed  a  good  prospect  of 
spending  a  freezing  night  on  the  mountains  at  an  altitude  of 
several  thousand  feet.  At  last  traces  of  the  path  were  discov- 
ered, and  the  guide  went  forward  to  secure  horses  and  assist- 
ance from  a  post-house  which  was  said  to  be  some  distance 
beyond.  The  falling  snow  and  the  biting  cold  made  the  de- 
lay seem  long,  but  the  messenger  returned  within  an  hour,  lead- 
ing three  horses  ;  I  was  able,  therefore,  to  dismiss  the  wagon, 
giving  directions  to  the  driver  to  return  to  the  hamlet  as  best 
he  could.  I  never  heard  how  he  reached  his  destination ;  but  I 
imagine  he  arrived  safely,  inshdllah,  '  by  the  Grace  of  God,'  a 
.Deo  Volente  phrase  which  the  Persians  employ  in  connection 
with  everything  they  do. 

The  horses  that  came  from  the  hill  post  looked  thin  and 
poorly  kept,  but  we  placed  the  load  upon  the  back  of  the 
strongest ;  the  second  animal  was  assigned  to  my  servant  Safar, 
and  I  mounted  the  third  myself.  Away  we  started  through 
the  snow. 

As  we  crossed  the  first  ridge  there  was  still  enough  light 
to  see,  on  the  edge  of  a  stream  below,  the  fresh  carcass  of  "a 
horse  that  appeared  to  have  fallen  over  the  edge  into  the 
gorge,  and  from  which  a  huge  shaggy  dog  was  tearing  strips 
of  fast-disappearing  flesh.  Dusk  fell,  and  darkness  closed  in 
rapidly  as  we  began  the  wild  ride  over  the  pass  and  through 
the  gorges  of  the  Karabagh  mountain  toward  Guchi.1  The 
native  guide  inquired  ominously  for  our  guns,  which  we  did 
not  have,  and  I  thought  lovingly  of  my  revolver,  which  by 
this  time  was  peacefully  reposing  at  Tiflis.  The  night  seemed 
too  stormy,  however,  for  robbers,  but  as  I  now  look  back  on 
it  and  think  of  the  murder  of  my  friend  Mr.  Labaree  and  his 
servant  on  the  same  road  from  Khoi  to  Urumiah  a  year  later,2 
and  the  pillaging  of  a  party  of  ten  in  this  region  by  a  band  of 

1  Or  Kuchi,  as  the  name  is  more  2  See  p.  90,  n.  1. 

accurately  rendered. 


THE  GREAT  PLAIN  OF  URUMIAH 


PLOWING  WITH  BUFFALOES  NEAR  URUMIAH 


A     WILD    RIDE  83 

Kurds  some  months  after  I  passed  through  it,  the  risk  of  the 
journey  seems  very  real.1 

The  wind  was  high,  and  it  drove  sheets  of  blinding  snow 
from  the  north,  which  we  fortunately  escaped  whenever  the 
path  veered  southward,  although  the  drifts  were  often  up  to  the 
horses'  bellies.  Over  streams  we  proceeded  and  along  precipices 
which  seemed  more  sheer  in  the  darkness,  until  the  night  became 
so  pitchy  black  that  there  was  nothing  for  us  to  do  but  throw 
the  reins  on  the  necks  of  the  horses,  swing  our  arms  to  keep 
from  freezing,  and  trust  to  the  horses'  instincts  to  find  the  way. 
All  this  while  my  cane,  umbrella,  and  hat-box  with  top  hat 
were  trundling  at  the  side  of  my  saddle  and  seemed  ludicrously 
out  of  place  amid  these  surroundings  ;  but  I  had  had  no  chance 
to  get  rid  of  them  (except  by  throwing  them  away  as  useless 
appendages)  since  I  bade  adieu  to  the  last  traces  of  civilization, 
where  I  had  needed  them  in  paying  official  visits.  To  cheer 
the  situation  and  brighten  my  own  spirits  as  well  as  those  of 
the  men,  I  whistled  a  tune  and  began  to  sing.  All  I  could 
think  of  at  the  moment  was  the  '  Star-Spangled  Banner '  — 
a  strangely  democratic  pibroch  for  the  highlands  of  Iran  ! 
The  guide  responded  with  a  Turkish  ditty,  which  I  answered 
in  turn  by  a  few  lines  of  Hafiz  that  I  knew  in  Persian,  to  the 
apparent  entertainment  of  our  leader,  and  thus  we  made 
the  dark  journey  through  what  seemed  to  be  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death.  The  lights  of  the  mud  houses  on  the  out- 
skirts of  Guchi  at  last  began  to  twinkle  through  the  gloom, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  we  had  descended  from  the  only 
remaining  hill,  crossed  a  level  stretch,  and  found  ourselves 
lodged  in  the  best  house  in  the  village. 

The  master  of  the  house  was  a  tall,  muscular  man  with  heavy 
mustachio  eyebrows  which  would  have  given  his  face  a  look  of 
fierceness  had  it  not  been  for  his  well-shaped  nose  and  the 
kindly  expression  about  his  mouth.  He  was  entertaining  No- 

1  The  Avesta  alludes  to  such  high-  Zoroaster's  time  under  the  designa- 
wayrnen,  bandits,  and  assassins  in  tions  tayu,  hazanhan,  gada. 


84  AROUND    LAKE    URUMIAH 

Ruz  guests,  as  the  New  Year  season  was  approaching  its  height, 
and  although  the  company  was  composed  of  a  set  of  rough- 
looking  fellows,  resembling  tramps  and  bandits,  they  seemed 
to  have  good  hearts,  and  ' 1  was  of  their  felaweshipe  anon.' 

Some  simple  food  and  New  Year's  sweetmeats  were  provided 
for  refreshment;  my  camp-bed  was  set  up  to  furnish  me 
a  seat,  while  the  guests  squatted  around  the  steaming  samovar 
and  enjoyed  hot  tea  sweetened  to  a  syrup  by  masses  of  sugar. 
Two  little  boys  came  in  after  the  repast  was  over.  They  were 
clad  in  dirty  rags,  but  were  brothers  of  our  host,  who  had  sum- 
moned them  to  sing  for  our  entertainment.  Their  bright  faces 
beamed  as  they  sang,  which  they  did  lustily  and  shrilly,  beat- 
ing time  rhythmically  upon  a  rough  tambourine,  while  the  host 
joined  with  a  zest  in  the  music.  Finally  he  passed  the  tam- 
bourine to  me  with  a  request  to  sing.  I  chose  'Yankee 
Doodle  '  in  preference  to  4  Home,  Sweet  Home,'  because  of  the 
tune,  and  not  the  sentiment,  for  in  general  I  believe  the 
Persian  would  prefer  the  4  chop-sticks  waltz '  to  a  melody  of 
Rubinstein  or  a  symphony  of  Beethoven.  Apropos  of  song,  I 
asked  the  company  if  they  knew  the  story  of  Shirin  and  her 
sculptor-lover  Farhad,  so  beautifully  told  by  Nizami.1  Several 
knew  it  well  and  recited  portions  both  in  Persian  and  Turkish. 

It  was  past  midnight  when  the  company  broke  up  for  the 
night  and  I  found  that  I  was  to  be  one  of  five  to  occupy  the 
rough-raftered,  mud-walled  room.  I  felt  that  I  was  in  Media 
Past,  for  the  A  vesta  presumes  a  condition  of  society  in  which 
a  number  shall  occupy  the  same  room,  since  it  speaks  of  '  men 
lying  down  to  rest  in  the  same  place,  on  a  rug  together,  or 
a  pillow  together,  whether  there  be  two  men  by  one  another, 
or  five,  or  fifty.'2  The  preparation  of  the  natives  for  retiring 
consisted  chiefly  in  loosening  their  belts  and  curling  themselves 
up  under  a  blanket,  resting  then  undisturbed  until  the  time 
came  to  give  a  shake,  like  a  dog,  in  the  morning.  Three  of  the 
party  who  had  not  yet  gone  to  bed  remained  squatting  near 
i  See  pp.  188,  226.  2  Vd.  5.  27  =  7.  5. 


A  GLIMPSE  OF  URUMIAH 


NORTHERN  END  OF  LAKE  URUMIAH 


PEASANTS    AS    HOSTS  85 

me  and  watched  the  proceedings  with  interest,  first  examining 
my  pistol-belt  as  I  unclasped  it  (now  minus  the  revolver), 
admiring  the  leather,  especially  the  mechanism  of  the  clasp, 
then  commenting  on  the  quality  as  a  whole,  and  passing  the 
belt  to  the  next.  My  russet  riding-leggings,  with  their  practical 
Yankee  fastenings,  called  forth  special  approval,  so  I  passed 
these  around  as  further  exhibits,  and  each  of  the  three  guests 
who  were  awake  gravely  tried  one  on.  This  done,  we  all  fell 
asleep  and  remained  undisturbed  till  after  daylight.  The 
inspection  of  exhibits  was  then  renewed  as  I  unpacked  my 
dressing-case,  brought  out  my  folding  mirror  for  shaving, 
and  proceeded  to  load  my  camera  with  fresh  films.  These 
stages  furnished  exhibits  X,  Y,  and  Z,  and  I  was  glad  when 
I  could  pack  up  again  and  escape  from  being  stared  at. 

Despite  my  oft-repeated  zud,  zud,  tez,  tez,  'quick,  hurry  up, 
the  sun  had  nearly  reached  the  zenith  before  I  succeeded  in 
getting  two  horses  and  a  cart  with  which  to  resume  the  journey 
to  Urumiah,  hoping  to  reach  it  that  night.  When  I  walked 
out  from  the  lodgings  where  we  had  spent  the  night,  I  found 
we  wer&  on  the  edge  of  the  great  Plain  of  Urumiah,  having 
descended  into  it  after  the  wild  ride  over  the  Karabagh  passes 
the  night  before.  To  hurry  matters  up  for  departure  I  started 
to  enter  the  courtyard  where  the  men  were  engaged  in  hitch- 
ing up  the  cart  which  was  to  be  our  next  means  of  trans- 
portation. One  of  the  servants  rushed  forward  to  urge  me 
not  to  enter  because  of  the  savage  dogs.  In  the  best  Persian 
I  knew  I  protested  that  I  was  not  afraid  of  dogs,  but  dis- 
covered in  an  instant  that  these  dogs  were  of  a  most  vicious 
kind,  and  was  forced  to  beat  a  retreat.  The  cart  was  finally 
ready,  and  we  started. 

In  the  noonday  air  there  was  a  slight  suggestion  of  spring, 
and  I  noticed  that  the  peasants  were  making  a  first  attempt 
to  turn  up  the  soil  with  their  plows.  The  Persian  plow  is  a 
very  primitive  sort  of  affair.  It  consists  of  the  crotch  of 
a  tree  cut  in  such  a  manner  that  one  of  the  two  branches 


86  AROUND    LAKE    URUMIAH 

may  be  sharpened  and  shod  with  iron  to  serve  as  a  plowshare, 
while  the  other,  or  main  trunk,  serves  as  the  beam.  Bullocks 
or  cows  are  hitched  to  the  unwieldy  implement,  and  wheels  are 
sometimes  added  to  lighten  the  lumbersome  affair.  The  soil  of 
the  great  alluvial  plain,  however,  yields  readily  to  such  primi- 
tive implements,  because  it  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  districts  in 
all  Persia  and  justifies  its  right  to  the  title  '  Paradise  of  Iran.' 
The  entire  district,  in  fact,  merits  the  praise  which  the  Avesta 
bestows  on  the  larger  region  of  Airyana  Vaejah,  or  Azarbai- 
jan,  when  it  calls  this  'the  first  and  best  of  places  created  by 
Ormazd.' 1 

My  efforts  to  reach  Urumiah  by  nightfall  failed  signally  at 
Karmabad,  for  there  the  guide  absolutely  refused  to  proceed 
farther  on  account  of  the  dreadful  state  of  the  roads,  which 
made  it  impossible  to  reach  the  city  before  dark.  I  tried  every 
device  from  coaxing  and  bribery  to  commanding,  but  he  and 
his  companions  were  obdurate.  Finally  I  had  to  yield  and 
spend  a  cold  night  at  the  uncomfortable  manzil,  receiving  a 
promise,  however,  that  the  start  should  be  made  at  daylight  on 
horseback.  Only  twice  in  my  Persian  experience,  besides  this 
occasion,  did  I  fail  to  carry  my  point  about  proceeding  on  the 
march  when  the  natives  objected;  but  this  time  I  found  that 
the  men  were  right,  as  the  guide,  with  some  satisfaction,  showed 
me  next  day  when  we  floundered  through  seas  of  mud  and  slush 
which  might  have  proved  dangerous  to  life  in  the  darkness. 
It  was  with  a  veritable  feeling  of  joy,  toward  noon  that  day, 
March  25,  the  sixth  of  my  journey  from  Tabriz,  that  I  neared 
the  walls  of  the  city  of  Urumiah,  one  of  the  several  towns  that 
lay  claim  to  having  been  the  birthplace  of  Zoroaster. 

1  Vd.  1.  2.    All  writers,  ancient  and  Mustaufi,   cited  in  Barbier  de  Mey- 

modern,  speak  of  the  richness  of  the  nard's   translation  of    Yakut,   p.  26, 

soil  and  the  abundance  of  the  crops  n.  3,  and  also  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  635. 
about  Urumiah.  See,  for  example, 


A  BUTCHER  AND  A  COBBLER,  URUMIAH 


WOMEN  WASHING  CLOTHES,  URUMIAH 


CHAPTER  IX 
URUMIAH,   A   SUPPOSED   EARLY  HOME   OF   ZOROASTER 

*  And  there  I  shaped 
The  city's  ancient  legend  into  this.' 

—  TENNYSON,  Godiva,  3-4. 

'THEY  claim  that  Urumiah  was  the  city  of  Zardusht  and 
that  it  was  founded  by  the  Worshippers  of  Fire,'  so  writes  the 
Arab  traveller  Yakut,  who  visited  the  city  in  A.D.  1220,  and  a 
still  earlier  author  Ibn  Khordadhbah  (about  A.D.  816)  calls  it 
'  the  city  of  Zaradusht,'  while  Al-Baladhuri  (A.D.  851)  also 
notes  that  '  Urumiah  is  an  ancient  city  of  Azarbaijan,  and  the 
Magians  think  that  their  master,  Zaradusht,  came  from  there.' 1 
A  half  dozen  other  Oriental  writers  make  similar  statements 
associating  Zoroaster's  name  directly  or  indirectly  with 
Urumiah  and  pointing  to  its  antiquity.  Nevertheless  the  city 
is  not  mentioned  in  the  Avesta  or  in  the  Pahlavi  literature, 
for  Anquetil  du  Perron  was  wrong  in  fancying  that  he  recog- 
nized the  name  of  Urumiah  in  the  Zoroastrian  prayer  Airyema 
Ishyo; 2  although  it  does  seem  possible,  as  suggested  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  that  its  present  name  Ur-ml,  Uru-miah,  the 
latter  element  of  which  the  natives  often  associate  with  md^ 
4  water,'  may  in  some  distant  manner  perpetuate  the  Avestan 
attribute  uruy-dpa,  urv-dpa,  '  having  salt  (or  warm)  water,' 
which  is  applied  to  it  in  the  ancient  texts.3  Most  of  the  in- 
habitants, especially  the  Nestorians,  call  the  city  Urmi,  the 
Persians  Urumiah  or  Urmia,  while  European  books  employ 

1  See  my   Zoroaster,  pp.  197-198  ;  2  Cf.  my  Zoroaster,  p.  97,  n.  1. 

also  pp.  17,  30,  38,  48,  49,  96,  166,  of  3  See  p.  73,  n.  3. 

the  same  work. 

87 


88 

Ouroomiah,  Oroumiah,  Urunriyyeh,  and  Urumia,  besides  other 
spellings. 

In  its  geographical  situation  the  city  is  fortunate,  lying  in 
the  alluvial  plain  of  the  '  Paradise  of  Iran,'  and  the  climate  is 
salubrious,  though  sometimes  hot  in  summer  after  the  rigorous 
winter.  The  river,  which  flows  past  the  city  on  its  southern 
side,  and  the  abundant  streams  formed  by  the  snow  melting  on 
the  Kurdish  hills  to  the  west,  assure  a  plentiful  water-supply 
and  excellent  facilities  for  irrigation  except  during  the  extreme 
heat  of  summer.  It  is  true  that  famine  visited  the  city  in 
1879,  but  that  was  at  a  time  when  the  scourge  swept  over  a 
large  part  of  Iran.  Systematic  cultivation  in  recent  years  has 
done  much  to  obviate  for  all  time  the  recurrence  of  such  a 
disaster.  The  country,  for  miles  around,  is  covered  in  summer 
with  gardens  that  produce  melons  and  cucumbers  in  abun- 
dance ;  with  orchards  laden  with  apples,  pears,  peaches,  plums, 
apricots,  quinces,  cherries,  and  mulberries ;  while  the  grapes  of 
the  vineyards  are  proverbial  for  their  excellence.  Wheat, 
barley,  rice,  and  millet  are  among  the  products  of  the  fields, 
and  tobacco  has  been  grown  for  many  years,  but  its  quality  is 
suited  rather  for  the  common  pipe,  chibuk,  than  for  the  kalian, 
in  which  the  natives  smoke  rather  the  tobacco  of  Shiraz. 

When  I  first  saw  Urumiah,  at  the  end  of  March,  there  was 
nothing  indicative  of  seed-time  and  harvest.  The  snow  had' 
only  just  begun  to  melt,  deluging  the  plain  with  floods  of  water 
and  converting  large  areas  into  seas  of  mud.  Through  this 
slough  of  despond  we  had  slowly  to  wade  our  horses,  and  it 
needed  the  sharp  ring  of  the  guide's  song  to  which  I  often 
echoed  a  bravo,  khaili  khub,  to  cheer  us  on  and  keep  the  strug- 
gling animals  in  their  course.  A  glimpse  of  the  disappearing 
traces  of  the  muddy  way  may  be  seen  in  the  picture  I  took  of  a 
caravan  of  camels  near  the  gate  of  Balau,  as  we  entered  the  city 
from  the  north.  They  were  stringing  their  way  along,  with 
dull-toned  heavy  bells,  toward  the  caravansarai  where  they  were 
to  lay  off  their  loads.  I  felt  a  special  interest  in  these  drom- 


FIRST    IMPRESSIONS    OF    U  RUM  I  AH  89 

edaries  near  Zoroaster's  city  because  the  prophet's  name, 
Zarathushtra,  is  said  to  mean  some  sort  of  a  camel  (ushtra).1 

The  city  of  Urumiah  is  girt  by  a  wall  some  three  or  four 
miles  in  compass,  pierced  by  seven  gateways  and  strengthened 
by  a  moat  at  the  more  vulnerable  points.  The  value  of  this 
double  defence  had  something  of  a  test  during  the  memorable 
Kurdish  raid  upon  Urumiah  in  1880,  when  the  city  was  be- 
sieged and  threatened  with  destruction  through  an  attack  by 
the  hostile  descendants  of  the  ancient  Carduchi,  who  had 
plundered  the  surrounding  villages,  burned,  ravaged,  and 
murdered  throughout  the  entire  borders  and  were  checked  only 
after  much  bloodshed  and  considerable  damage  to  property.2 

As  one  enters  the  town,  Urumiah  gives  the  impression  of 
most  Persian  cities.  Some  of  the  streets  are  fairly  broad,  and 
a  rough  attempt  has  been  made,  here  and  there,  to  pave  them 
with  large  round  stones  from  the  river-bed.  There  is  no 
system  of  drainage,  save  the  water-channels  from  the  moat  and 
river,  which  serve  alike  to  receive  refuse  and  furnish  a  washing- 
place  for  the  women  to  launder  their  clothes.  A  hopeful  sign, 
however,  that  better  municipal  ordinances  may  some  day  be 
established,  with  efficient  authority,  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the 
butchering  of  animals  in  the  public  streets  has  been  forbidden 
and  a  public  slaughterhouse  has  been  built  near  the  Hazaran 
gate  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  city.  No  provision,  how- 
ever, seems  to  be  in  force  against  shovelling  the  snow  off  the 
roofs  into  the  streets  and  heaping  up  barriers  that  make  the 
thoroughfare  at  times  impassable ;  nor  is  there  any  restriction 
against  the  use  of  burying-grounds  in  the  city,  where  economy 
of  space,  time,  and  labor  leads  to  using  the  same  grave  two 
or  three  times.  The  quick  and  the  dead  are  one  kin,  and  the 
Persian  has  little  idea  of  hygiene  in  such  respects  ;  I  noticed 
especially  in  the  hamlets  of  the  rural  districts  that  a  preference 

1  The  meaning  'plowing  camel'  has  2  For  a  full  account  of  the  events 

even  been  suggested ;  see  my  Zoroas-  connected  with  the  Kurdish  raid,  see 
ter,  pp.  147-149.  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  pp.  109-124. 


90      URUMIAH,    A    SUPPOSED    EARLY    HOME    OF    ZOROASTER 

was  shown  for  placing  the  graveyard  on  the  nearest  hill,  at  the 
foot  of  which  the  village  well  was  dug.  As  I  followed  the 
main  street  into  Urumiah  it  led  directly  across  a  cemetery. 
There  was  no  way  of  avoiding  the  graves,  and  the  horses' 
hoofs  often  beat  hollow  over  the  excavation  beneath  the  sod. 
In  an  adjoining  plot  a  burial  was  in  progress,  and  the  mourners 
were  still  gathered  about  the  half-filled  grave,  at  the  head  of 
which  was  placed  a  rough  stone  without  any  inscription.  It 
chanced  to  be  the  only  funeral  I  saw  during  my  stay  in  Persia, 
where  the  population  is  less  dense  and  vitality  less  low  than 
in  plague-stricken  India. 

Another  quarter  of  an  hour's  ride,  and  I  found  myself  dis- 
mounting before  the  door  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sion, as  the  guest  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Labaree.  A 
welcome  there  awaited  me  which  those  can  best  appreciate 
who,  weary,  mud-bedraggled,  chilled,  and  out  of  sorts,  have 
endured  the  discomforts  of  4  the  road '  for  six  hard  days  through 
snow,  slush,  mire,  and  storm.1 

In  less  than  two  hours  after  my  arrival  my  host  had  ar- 
ranged for  my  first  afternoon  of  research  among  the  ash-hills, 
which  was  to  be  an  excursion  with  his  son  to  Degalah,  the 
largest  mound  near  the  city.  There  are  more  than  a  dozen  of 
these  elevations  directly  in  the  vicinity  of  Urumiah,  and  it  is 
stated  that  there  are  as  many  as  sixty-four  about  the  lake. 
The  larger  number  of  them  are  scattered  over  the  Urumiah 

1 1  shall  never  forget  this  meeting  were  stripped  of  everything  of  value, 

with  Dr.  Labaree  Sr.  and  young  Mr.  and  the  assassins  escaped  over  the  Turk- 

and   Mrs.   B.   W.   Labaree.      Almost  ish  border.    The  bodies  of  these  two 

exactly  one  year  later,  March  9,  1904,  martyrs  to  the  Christian  cause  were 

Mr.  Labaree  Jr.   was  brutally  mur-  afterward  discovered  and  conveyed  to 

dered  by  bandits  and  fanatics  on  the  Urumiah,  where  they  were  buried  in 

road  from  Dilman  over  which  I  had  the  same  grave.     The  United  States 

passed.     His  servant,  a  bright  young  government  followed  up  the  matter  of 

native,  was  shot,  and  the  body  robbed  the  murder  to  its  source  and  obtained 

even  of  the  clothes,  and  Mr.  Labaree  from  the   Persian  government    some 

was  carried  away  to  a  mountain  ravine,  reparation  for  the  heinous  crime,  and  a 

where  he  was  savagely  stabbed  to  death  guarantee  for  the  greater  safety  hence- 

with  daggers  and  swords.    His  remains  forth  of  American  citizens  in  Persia. 


EXCAVATIONS  IN  DEGALAH  ASH-HILL,  NEAR  URUMIAH 


SPECIMEN  OF  ANCIENT  POTTERY  FROM  URUMIAH 
(In  the  author's  collection) 


OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 
CAI 


THE    ZOROASTRIAN    ASH-HILLS  91 

plain  and  the  plain  of  Sulduz  to  the  south,  but  not  to  the 
north  in  Salmas.1  They  are  all  composed  of  immense  deposits 
of  ashes  mixed  with  earth,  the  ashes  having  been  added  in  many 
cases  to  a  natural  small  elevation.  '  In  fact,  there  is  scarcely 
an  eminence  on  the  plain  which  has  not  been  increased,  usually 
to  a  very  great  extent,  by  this  means.'2  The  natives  all  agree 
in  calling  them  'hills  of  the  Fire- Worshippers.'  One  must  be 
careful,  however,  not  to  mistake  for  ash-mounds  some  of  the 
numerous  hillocks  (tapah)  about  the  lake,  like  the  Gum 
Tapah  at  Mayan,  not  far  from  Tabriz,  which  imagination 
might  easily  crown  with  a  fire-shrine.  My  first  guide,  know- 
ing my  interest  in  the  subject,  obligingly  called  the  Gum 
Tapah  an  Atash  Gah  (fire-temple),  but  it  is  a  mere  sand-heap 
and  was  probably  never  one  of  the  Zoroastrian  pynea. 

The  village  of  Degalah  directly  adjoins  Urumiah.  The  ash- 
hill  is  three  or  four  hundred  yards  long,  nearly  as  many  broad, 
and  a  hundred  feet  or  more  in  height  ;  but  its  dimensions  are 
constantly  being  reduced,  as  the  peasants  within  the  past 
century  have  discovered  the  value  of  the  alkaline  quality  of  the 
ashes  for  fertilizing  purposes  and  for  producing  saltpetre.  As 
a  consequence  the  hill  has  been  burrowed  into,  tunnelled, 
trenched,  undermined,  and  cut  down  in  scores  of  places,  and 
the  soil  carried  off  to  spread  upon  the  adjoining  farms.  The 
photographs  taken  by  Mr.  Labaree  and  myself  will  show  some 
of  the  pits  and  hollows  resulting  from  these  excavations.  The 
structure  of  the  mound  was  therefore  easy  to  examine.  It 
consists  of  soft  earth  with  stratum  upon  stratum  of  solid  ashes 
at  varying  depths  and  several  feet  thick.  There  is  little  stone 
in  the  mass,  but  in  former  times  some  stone  buildings  stood  on 
the  top  of  the  hill,  and  the  village  of  Degalah  is  built  largely 
from  the  stones  of  these,  as  I  am  informed  by  my  colleague, 

1  On    Gaur    Tapah,    '  Unbeliever's  missionary  among  the  Nestorians  of 
Hill,'  near  Dizah-Khalil,  on  the  north  Persia,  Mr.  E.  C.  Shedd,  cited  by  Dr. 
shore   of    the  lake,  see  Ker  Porter,  W.  H.  Ward,  Notes  on  Oriental  An- 
Travels,  2.  606.  tiquities,  in  Am.  Journ.  Archaeology, 

2  This  statement  is  quoted  from  a  6.  280. 


92   URUMIAH,  A  SUPPOSED  EARLY  HOME  OF  ZOROASTER 

Dr.  A.  Yohannan,  who  was  born  there.  I  understand  also  that 
a  foundation-wall  of  burnt  brick  was  discovered  some  time 
ago  near  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  4  the  bricks  measuring  at  least 
six  inches  thick  by  eighteen  to  twenty-four  inches  long '  —  a 
statement  which  would  agree  with  the  so-called  '  Gabar  bricks ' 
of  Zoroastrian  structures  which  I  found  elsewhere  in  Persia.1 

In  their  excavations  the  workmen  are  constantly  unearthing 
fragments  of  pottery,  sometimes  whole  vessels,  terra-cotta  fig- 
urines, coins,  and  other  remains  which  show  signs  of  consider- 
able antiquity.  The  specimens  of  earthenware  are  usually  of  a 
reddish  or  brownish  clay,  the  commonest  being  a  round  pot 
with  small  handles  or  with  a  spout.  They  are  generally  with- 
out decoration,  although  a  few  have  figures  of  men  and  horses, 
crudely  drawn,  or  bands  of  color  and  other  marks  of  ornamenta- 
tion upon  the  surface.2  Some  of  the  jars  are  two  feet  or  more 
in  height ;  I  saw  such  an  amphora  at  a  depth  of  more  than 
twenty  feet  below  the  surface  in  one  of  the  pits  into  which  I 
went  down.  It  was  buried  in  an  upright  position  in  the  earth, 
but  was  partly  broken,  so  that  we  did  not  disturb  it,  except  to 
scrape  some  of  the  debris  from  around  it,  which  disclosed  a  few 
pieces  of  bones,  grains  of  parched  corn,  and  ashes  in  abundance. 
Potsherds  by  the  hundreds  were  lying  at  the  bottom  and  about 
the  mouth  of  every  pit,  but  I  could  not  learn  of  a  single 
instance  where  any  inscribed  tablet  or  cylinder  had  been  found 
among  the  layers  of  earth  and  ashes. 

It  is  common,  when  speaking  of  this  and  the  other  ash-hills 
around  Urumiah,  to  say  that  they  are  composed  'entirely  of 
ashes,'  3  but  from  my  examination  in  the  present  instance,  and 
my  investigations  in  others,  this  term  is  to  be  taken  relatively. 

1  See  the  quotation  by  Mr.  Shedd  pies  may  be  found  in  the  hands  of  the 
in  Dr.  Ward's  article  (p.  286)  previ-  villagers  or  of  residents  in  the  city, 
ously  cited,  and  cf.  p.  255,  below.  8  Mr.  Shedd,  op.  cit.  p.  286  ;    and  a 

2  A  good  collection  of    specimens  native  of  Urumiah,  Jonathan  Badall, 
may  be  seen  in  the  museum  room  of  now  in  Yonkers,  informed  me  that  the 
the   American   Missionary  College   at  hill  of  Lakki,  thirteen  miles  north  of 
Urumiah,  and  many  individual  sam-  Urumiah,  is  composed 'wholly  of  ashes.' 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


THE    ASH-HILLS    AT    DEGALAH    AND     TERMANI  93 

I  believe  therefore  that  Dr.  Ward,  even  though  he  had  not  seen 
them,  was  right  in  his  impression  that  they  are  composed  rather 
'of  clay  which  has  become  mixed  with  ashes  and  saturated 
with  nitrous  salts  of  organic  composition ' ;  and  he  shows  from 
an  old  Babylonian  sculpture  how  such  mounds  could  be  built 
up.1  There  is  every  reason  to  assume  that  these  elevations 
were  surmounted  by  sanctuaries  dedicated  to  the  worship  of 
fire,  even  if  we  do  not  agree  in  every  detail  with  the  natives, 
who  unanimously  attribute  the  vast  accumulation  of  ashes  to 
the  accretions  from  the  fire-temples,  the  ashes  having  been 
scattered  over  the  hill  age  after  age.2 

On  the  following  day  a  party  was  formed  to  visit  another 
ash-hill  and  we  rode  out  to  Termani,  six  miles  east  of 
Urumiah.  This  mound  culminates  in  an  elevation  some- 
what resembling  a  cone.  A  short  distance  from  the  conical 
rising  it  was  possible  to  trace  the  general  outline  of  what 
was  once  the  foundation  of  an  old  building.  The  large  size  of 
the  stones  called  forth  comments  from  the  natives,  who 
expressed  surprise  as  to  how  such  large  blocks  could  have  been 
conveyed  to  the  site  where  they  stood.  The  hill  itself  has  not 
been  much  excavated,  but  about  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago, 
when  a  well  was  being  sunk  near  the  top,  an  image  of  consider- 
able size  was  found.  Unfortunately  it  was  destroyed  by  the 
iconoclastic  workmen,  who  were  Mohammedans,  as  image- 
making  is  forbidden  by  the  Koran.3  On  the  hill  I  could  see 
abundant  traces  of  ashes  everywhere,  although  they  were  not 
quite  so  plentiful  as  at  Degalah.  My  judgment  in  this  case, 
however,  is  based  only  upon  an  examination  of  the  surface  of 
the  ground,  as  the  mound  had  not  been  trenched  and  excavated 
like  the  other  ;  but  the  ground  was  strewn  with  potsherds 
which  incidental  diggings  had  brought  to  light,  and  the  natives 

1  Ward,  op.  cit.  p.  287.  8  See  Koran  (tr.  Sale),  chap.  2,  pp. 

2  There  is  nothing  of    a    volcanic  18,   23,   etc.,   and   the  Mohammedan 
nature  in  the  deposit,  so  far  as  my  tradition  against  pictures  and  images 
limited  geological  knowledge  allowed  in  Mishkat,  bk.  12,  chap.  1,  pt.  1,  and 
me  to  judge.  bk.  29,  chap.  5. 


94      URUMIAH,    A    SUPPOSED    EARLY    HOME    OF    ZOROASTER 

had  numerous  specimens  of  earthenware  vessels  thus  unearthed. 
One  of  these,  which  is  shown  in  the  photograph,  had  lost  part  of 
its  spout,  but  kept  its  small  handle ;  another  presented  a  slight 
attempt  at  artistic  finish,  as  the  handle  was  twisted  in  a  curious 
but  rather  graceful  shape  ;  still  another,  which  did  not  look 
quite  so  old  as  the  specimen  that  I  selected,  somewhat  re- 
sembled a  modern  teapot  with  holes  perforated  in  the  spout 
to  serve  as  a  strainer. 

A  third  mound  which  I  visited  was  the  hill  of  Ahmat,  a 
short  distance  southeast  of  Termani.  In  one  of  the  trenches 
there  were  fragments  of  a  rather  large  urn,  and  I  am  told  that 
specimens  as  large  as  a  man  are  sometimes  exhumed  and  that 
skeletons  have  been  found  buried  in  them.1  The  natives  also 
informed  me  that,  in  excavating,  they  sometimes  come  across 
neatly  made  graves  in  these  ash-mounds,  with  a  stone  slab 
covering  the  place  where  the  body  lay.  The  truth  of  this  I 
afterward  proved. 

The  following  day  spent  among  the  ash-hills  was  devoted 
to  the  mound  at  Geog  Tapah,  or  Gog  Tepe,  which  lies  a  little 
east-southeast  from  Urumiah.  It  was  the  fourth  ash-mound 
that  I  visited,  and  was  one  of  the  largest.  A  Christian  church, 
erected  by  the  Nestorians,  now  crowns  the  summit  of  this 
ancient  ash-hill,  and  the  minister,  Mr.  Morehatch,  an  Assyrian 
Christian  born  near  Urumiah,  told  me  that  when  the  workmen 
were  excavating  for  the  foundations  of  the  church  they  came 
across  an  underground  chamber  built  of  stone  and  containing 
a  carved  hollow  cylinder  three  or  four  inches  high.  The  stone 
vault,  he  explained,  had  been  filled  up  in  order  to  make  the 
foundation  of  the  building  more  secure,  and  the  image  had 
been  purchased  and  sent  to  America.  On  my  return  home  I 
found  that  this  cylindrical  bas-relief  is  now  preserved  in  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  in  New  York  City,  and  that  my 
friend  Dr.  William  Hayes  Ward  had  given  a  detailed  descrip- 

1  See  also  a  similar  statement  the  article,  already  quoted,  by  Ward, 
made  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Shedd,  cited  in  Am.'Journ.  Archaeology,  6.  287. 


A  TYPICAL  MUD  HUT  AT  TERMANI,  NEAR  URUMIAH 


AN  OLD  MILL  NEAR  URUMIAH 


ANTIQUE  POTTERY  AND   AN  ANCIENT  CYLINDER          95 

tion  of  it  in  the  publication  referred  to  in  the  notes,  supple- 
mented by  Mr.  Shedd's  account  of  the  chamber  where  the 
object  was  found.1  I  have  examined  the  cylinder  a  number  of 
times,  and  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Museum  authorities  I  am 
able  to  give  a  reproduction  of  it.2 

In  shape  it  resembles  a  large  napkin-ring  made  of  trans- 
lucent alabaster,  and  it  measures  3^  inches  (94  millimeters)  in 
height  by  2-J  inches  (59  millimeters)  in  diameter,  the  walls 
being  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  (6  millimeters)  in  thickness. 
The  surface  of  the  alabaster  has  been  rendered  somewhat 
opaque  by  exposure,  as  Dr.  Ward  observes  in  his  description, 
from  which  I  freely  draw.  The  design  of  the  carvings,  in  the 
opinion  of  this  authority,  is  archaic  Babylonian,  and  the 
figures  represent  the  sun-god,  Shamash,  emerging  from  the  por- 
tals of  the  east  and  accompanied  by  other  divine  personages. 
The  god  (the  second  figure  on  the  right  in  the  reproduction) 
carries  a  club  on  his  right  shoulder  and  holds  a  weapon  in  his 
left  hand,  as  he  mounts  with  his  left  foot  the  crest  of  a  low 
hill.  The  hill  is  conventionally  indicated  by  several  rectangular 
blocks,  which  are  multiplied  also  for  the  other  figures  to  stand 
upon,  and  they  form  at  the  same  time  an  ornamental  base  for 
the  cylinder.  Two  bearded  porters,  with  flowing  hair  and  wear- 
ing low  double-horned  caps,  fling  open  the  gates  through  which 
the  god  advances.  Behind  the  left-hand  gate-keeper  stands 
the  demigod,  Ea-bani,  half  man,  half  bull,  facing  full  front  and 
holding  in  his  two  hands  a  standard.  Behind  him  again  are 
three  figures,  on  the  other  side  of  the  cylinder,  approaching 
the  sun-god.  The  first  of  these  is  a  man  ;  the  second  a  woman 
in  a  flounced  robe,  who  is  considered  by  Dr.  Ward  to  be 
the  sun-god's  wife  ;  and  the  third,  a  bearded  divine  figure 
clothed  in  a  long  skirted  mantle.  In  the  garments  of  all  the 
figures  I  would  call  attention  to  the  border  of  fringe,  charac- 
teristic of  the  Median  robe  and  noticeable  on  the  sculptures  of 

1  See  Dr.  Ward's  article,  Notes  on      Journal  of  Archaeology,  6.  286-301. 
Oriental    Antiquities,     in    American          2  One  third  of  the  actual  size. 


96      URUMIAH,    A    SUPPOSED    EARLY    HOME    OF    ZOROASTER 

the  archers  discovered  by  Dieulafoy  at  Susa  and  on  the  effigy 
of  Cyrus  at  Persepolis.  Dr.  Ward  believes  that  this  cylin- 
drical bas-relief  found  at  Geog  Tapah  is  at  least  as  old  as 
B.C.  2000,  and  probably  older,  and  in  his  opinion  it  is  4a 
purely  Babylonian  product,  which  was  conveyed,  probably 
in  some  conquest  of  a  very  early  period,  to  this  distant  land 
of  the  Minni.' 

Beneath  the  sandstone  floor  of  the  chamber  where  the 
cylinder  was  discovered  some  fragments  of  bones  were  found, 
but  they  were  so  decomposed  that  it  was  impossible  to  make 
anything  out  of  them.1  It  is  not  infrequent,  Mr.  Morehatch 
told  me  from  his  own  observations,  to  unearth  from  the  Geog 
Tapah  mound  large  earthen  jars  containing  bones,  which  show 
that  the  custom  of  urn-burial  was  sometimes  resorted  to,  or 
else  that  the  use  of  astoddns  was  in  vogue,  as  explained  below. 
Malik  Shimmon,  my  native  host,  at  whose  house  we  lunched, 
stated  that  on  his  own  property  two  skulls  had  been  dug  up 
with  brass  nails  driven  into  the  ears.  If  this  is  to  be  taken  as 
indicating  death  by  execution,  added  light  may  be  thrown  on 
the  interpretation  of  a  passage  in  the  Vendidad,  where,  among 
other  comparisons  of  torture  and  punishment,  the  torments  of 
hell  are  described  as  being  as  painful  '  as  if  one  should  nail 
the  bones  of  his  perishable  body  with  iron  nails.'  2 

It  is  quite  evident,  from  what  has  been  said,  that  Geog 
Tapah  was  not  only  an  ancient  settlement,  but  that  a  part  of 
the  mound  served  also  as  a  cemetery.  At  one  place,  where  a 
deep  road  had  been  cut  in  the  hill,  I  saw  a  number  of  graves 
exposed,  but  they  were  near  the  surface  and  apparently  not 
very  old,  although  in  a  ghastly  condition  to  behold.  Choosing 
a  spot  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill,  where  it  was  possible  to 
excavate  at  a  lower  level  on  account  of  the  conformation  of  the 


1  See  Shedd,  quoted  by  Ward,  op.  steter,    SEE.   42.  48 ;  Le  ZA.   2.  63, 

cit.  p.  287.  n.  43 ;    and  consult  also  Bartholomae, 

2  So  Vd.  4.  61 ,  fSSbiS .  .  .  ava-paSal,  is  Air.  Wb.  p.  879. 
probably  to  be  understood ;  see  Darme- 


BAS-RELIEF  CYLINDER  FOUND  NEAR  URUMIAH 

(Now  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  New  York) 

(Two  thirds  actual  size) 


OPENING  AN  ANCIENT  GRAVE  IN  THE  SIDE  OF  THE  GEOG  TAPAH  ASH-HILL 


OPENING    A    HILLSIDE    GRAVE  97 

mound,  we  proceeded  to  examine  an  ancient  grave  or  sepulchre 
that  had  already  been  laid  partly  bare.  Malik  Shimmon  sum- 
moned an  old  man  to  open  the  grave,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
his  long  shovel  had  laid  the  sepulchre  fully  unclosed  to  view. 
It  was  a  rough  sarcophagus  of  stone,  a  part  of  the  upper  slab 
and  a  portion  of  the  side  slab  of  which  (both  whitish  in  color) 
were  intact.  The  head  of  the  grave  appeared  to  be  located 
toward  the  right,  as  I  looked  into  the  opening.  There  was  a 
large  jar  deep  in  the  earth  above  what  was  presumably  the  foot 
of  the  grave,  but  we  preferred  not  to  remove  it,  as  it  was  broken 
and  apparently  quite  empty.  The  grave  itself  was  likewise 
empty,  except  for  a  few  fragments  of  bones  scattered  about; 
in  fact  in  most  cases  where  the  interment  shows  the  greatest 
signs  of  antiquity  the  skeletons  have  been  reduced  to  dust,  or 
at  most  a  few  pieces  of  bones  remain.  Yet  Mr.  Shimmon,  who 
had  seen  a  number  of  these  stone  receptacles  opened,  said  that 
sometimes  three  or  four  skeletons  are  preserved  in  a  single 
sarcophagus,  and  the  digger  recalled  an  instance  where  as 
many  as  six  were  found.  I  had  the  same  assurance  also  on 
other  authority. 

Regarding  the  age  and  true  nature  of  these  repositories  I 
am  wholly  undecided  at  the  present  time.  If  they  were  pre- 
Mohammedan  and  pre-Nestorian,  as  seems  probable,  it  is  open 
to  question  to  which  era  we  are  to  assign  them,  whether  to  a 
time  when  the  Zoroastriaii  religion  prevailed  or  to  a  still 
earlier  date.  If  we  assign  them  provisionally  to  the  Zoroas- 
triaii period,  we  can  only  explain  them  as  astodans,  or  stone 
receptacles  constructed  to  receive  the  bones  after  the  flesh  had 
been  denuded  from  the  body  by  the  vultures,  in  accordance 
with  the  tenets  of  the  Zoroastrian  religion.1 

Leaving  this  opened  grave  and  passing  by  another  which 
had  recently  been  discovered  a  few  rods  distant,  but  not  fully 
laid  bare,  we  turned  our  attention  to  other  sights  and  ascended 

1  For  this  custom  in  regard  to  the  Modi,  Astodan,  a  Persian  Coffin,  Bom- 
bones,  see  Vd.  6.  44-51,  and  consult  bay,  1889  (brochure). 


98      URUMIAH,    A    SUPPOSED    EARLY    HOME    OF    ZOROASTER 

the  brow  of  the  hill  to  view  the  surrounding  country.  In  the 
near  foreground  still  another  ash-mound,  a  small  elevation,  was 
pointed  out;  it  was  apparently  the  one  called  Chachili  Hill, 
which  I  passed  two  days  later  on  my  journey  southward  from 
Urumiah.  The  village  of  Saralan,  built  partly  on  an  ash-hill, 
lay  on  the  same  road,  and  there  I  saw  the  remains  of  a  building 
that  had  been  exposed  in  digging,  and  likewise  pieces  of  a  large 
oven  (tandur,  tanur,  Av.  tanura),  together  with  fragments  of 
a  huge  amphora,  or  wine-jar  (lino).  Not  far  from  there,  in 
the  same  general  southerly  direction,  lies  the  village  of  Dizach- 
Takiah,  or  Diza-Takiah,  built  on  one  of  the  very  largest  of  the 
hills  that  show  traces  of  ashes  in  this  neighborhood.  My  Nes- 
torian  friend,  Rev.  Yaroo  M.  Neesan,  at  whose  uncle's  house  we 
spent  the  night,  told  me  that  he  himself  had  found  at  Diza- 
Takiah  a  small  statuette  with  Assyrian  affinities.  In  looking 
over  some  of  the  specimens  of  pottery  that  had  been  unearthed 
there  in  digging  the  foundations  of  his  house,  I  noticed  one 
particularly  interesting  old  piece  ;  it  was  a  large  terra-cotta  pot, 
evidently  very  antique  and  probably  used  as  a  milking  vessel, 
according  to  my  native  host.1 

It  was  at  Geog  Tapah,  at  the  house  of  Malik  Shimmon, 
whose  hospitality  I  enjoyed,  that  I  had  my  first  truly  Persian 
dinner.  We  partook  of  this  meal  seated  on  the  floor  in 
Eastern  fashion,  bolstered  up  by  soft  cushions  and  lost  amid 
a  wilderness  of  dishes  with  a  variety  of  viands  character- 
istic of  the  country.  Among  these  was  the  clabber  (mast),  a 

1  The  general  subject  of  the  ash-  pottery  has  been  published  by  Virchow, 
mounds  around  Lake  Urumiah  was  Fundstucke  aus  Grabhugeln  bei  Ur- 
treated  many  years  ago,  I  believe,  in  mia,  Persien,  in  Zt.  f.  Ethnol.  (Verh. 
a  sketch  by  Mr.  Abbott,  but  I  have  d.  Berliner  Anthrop.  Gesellsch.},  30 
not  been  able  to  find  the  brochure  or  (1898),  pp.  622-527;  32  (1900),  pp.  609- 
even  to  discover  its  exact  title.  Drs.  612.  My  own  notes,  though  imper- 
Lehmann  and  Belck  gave  some  atten-  feet,  will  suffice  to  call  the  attention  of 
tion  to  the  matter  of  the  ash-mounds  Zoroastrian  scholars  anew  to  this  field 
in  their  recent  scientific  tours  through  for  archaeological  research  in  north- 
Armenia  and  northwest  Persia.  Some  western  Persia, 
information  regarding  their  finds  of 


THE    PERSIAN    NEW    YEAR  99 

caseous  mixture  that  recalled  to  my  mind  the  milk  and  cheese 
diet  upon  which  the  classical  writers  say  that  Zoroaster  lived 
for  years  in  the  desert.1  On  our  way  back  to  the  city  we 
passed  a  number  of  interesting  sights,  one  of  which  was  an  old 
mill,  which  interested  me  because  of  the  primitiveness  of  its  style 
and  structure. 

As  I  happened  to  be  in  Urumiah  before  the  season  of  the 
No-Ruz  festival,  or  Persian  New  Year,  was  over,  I  had  an 
excellent  opportunity  of  becoming  still  better  acquainted  with 
the  social  life  of  the  people.  No-Ruz,  4new  day,'  the  oldest  of 
all  Persian  festivals,  does  not  fall  in  January,  like  our  own  New 
Year's,  but  comes  in  the  springtime  when  the  sun  enters  the 
sign  of  Aries  at  the  vernal  equinox.  Iranian  tradition  dates 
the  festival  back  thousands  of  years  and  says  that  it  was  first 
celebrated  in  the  golden  age  by  Jamshid,  who  lived  before  the 
Deluge.  It  was  he  who  established  the  solar  year  ;  and  al- 
though the  Persians,  as  Mohammedans,  have  otherwise  adopted 
the  lunar  calendar  current  among  the  Arabians,  they  have  never 
given  up  No-Ruz  and  its  observances.  The  festival  lasts  over 
a  fortnight  and  is  celebrated  with  as  much  spirit  as  it  was  a 
thousand  years  ago  in  the  time  of  Harun  al-Rashid,  when  we 
find  it  alluded  to  in  the  story  of  the  Enchanted  Horse  in  the 
Arabian  Nights  as  '  an  ancient  and  solemn  feast  throughout  all 
Persia,  which  has  been  continued  from  the  time  of  idolatry 
and  is  observed  not  only  in  the  great  cities,  but  celebrated  with 
extraordinary  rejoicings  in  every  little  town,  village,  and  ham- 
let.'2 Holiday  attire,  the  interchange  of  gifts,  congratulations, 
and  good  wishes,  together  with  merry-making,  are  the  order  of 
the  season.  Nor  has  fashion  allowed  the  time-honored  custom 
of  paying  visits  on  glorious  Jamshid's  day  to  lapse.  The 
callers  are  welcomed  with  large  trays  of  sweetmeats  and  sugar 

1  See  my   Zoroaster,  p.    34,   n.  2,  connected  with  No-Ruz  and  the  origin 
where    the     classical     references    are  of  New  Year's  presents,  see  Albiruni, 
given.  Chronology  of  Ancient   Nations,   tr 

2  Compare  Arabian  Nights,  p.  462,  Sachau,  pp.  199-204,  London,  1879. 
Philadelphia,  1835 ;   and  for  legends 


100   URUMIAH,  A  SUPPOSED  EARLY  HOME  OF  ZOROASTER 

confectionery  ;  and  favors  of  this  sort  are  sent  from  friends  to 
friends,  because  tradition  says  that  4he  who  tastes  sugar  on  the 
morning  of  No-Ruz  before  speaking,  and  anoints  himself  with 
oil,  will  keep  off  all  sorts  of  mishap  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  year.'  Sugar  and  confectionery,  of  which  the  Persians  are 
so  extremely  fond,  have  also  ancient  authority  and  royal  sanc- 
tion, since  among  other  good  things  associated  with  the  first 
New  Year's  Day  and  the  inauguration  of  the  solar  calendar  by 
King  Jamshid  was  the  happy  discovery  of  the  sugar  cane,  and 
the  king  'ordered  the  juice  to  be  pressed  out  and  sugar  to  be 
made  thereof.' 

In  making  New  Year's  calls  I  had  the  pleasant  privilege  of 
going  in  the  company  of  Dr.  J.  P.  Cochran,  the  missionary 
physician  at  Urumiah,  and  our  first  visit  was  paid  to  Majidi 
Sultana,  the  newly  appointed  Vice-Go vernor,  who  two  days 
before  had  received  from  the  Shah  his  official  appointment  and 
the  accompanying  gift  of  a  superb  sword.  He  received  us  with 
formal  ease  and  grace  and,  after  the  customary  bows  and  salu- 
tations of  etiquette  had  been  made,  conversed  freely  and  pleas- 
antly in  Turkish,  which  the  other  visitors  spoke  well,  but  he 
addressed  me  in  French,  as  I  was  not  familiar  with  Turkish. 

In  his  personality  Majidi  Sultana  may  be  said  to  combine 
the  soldier,  courtier,  and  scholar,  for  he  is  a  man  of  great  per- 
sonal bravery,  a  stern  commander,  yet  extremely  gentle  and 
finished  in  his  manners,  endowed  with  great  fondness  for  his- 
tory and  literature.  His  soldierly  qualities  are  looked  upon 
by  the  people  with  a  respect  approaching  awe,  and  his  military 
ability,  quickness  of  decision,  and  promptness  of  action  have 
won  for  him  the  post  he  holds.  Urumiah  is  close  to  the 
Turkish  border  and  the  territory  of  the  Kurds,  and  this  district 
is  particularly  subject  to  danger  from  outlaws  and  marauding 
freebooters,  as  the  Kurdish  raid  in  1880  proved.  The  Kurds 
in  fact  are  even  now  a  constant  menace,  and  Majidi  adopted 
the  policy  of  employing  a  company  of  these  warlike  hillsmen 
themselves  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  order.  Yet  I  have  since 


MART  MARIAM  CHURCH,  URUMIAH 
(Where  one  of  the  Magi  is  said  to  be  buried) 


A  TYPICAL  GROUP  OF  MULLAHS  AND  SKIPS 


NEW   YEAR'S  CALLS  101 

learned  that  he  nearly  lost  his  life  in  holding  a  conference  with 
the  representatives  of  a  rebel  Sheikh  from  over  the  border. 
A  parley  had  been  agreed  upon,  but  in  the  midst  of  it  some 
threat  of  violence  was  made  by  the  rebels ;  before  the  band 
could  carry  out  their  purpose  Majidi  Sultana  shot  the  leader 
on  the  spot  and  had  the  rest  seized  and  blown  from  the  can- 
non's mouth  in  the  public  square  of  Urumiah. 

In  extending  hospitality  to  us,  Majidi  Sultana  was  the 
polished  gentleman  above  the  soldier,  and  his  home  bore  evi- 
dences of  culture  and  scholarly  tastes.  Besides  finely  bound 
Persian  and  Arabic  works  his  library  contained  a  few  standard 
French  books,  and  he  seemed  to  take  a  real  interest  in  history. 
Knowing  his  breadth  of  view  and  freedom  from  fanaticism  I 
had  no  hesitation  in  making  inquiries  about  the  Zoroastrian 
religion,  and  I  soon  found,  from  the  questions  which  he  himself 
put  to  me  regarding  the  association  of  Zoroaster's  name  with 
Ardabil  and  Mount  Savalan,  that  his  range  of  reading  in  the 
Oriental  writers  on  his  shelves  must  have  been  considerable. 
The  decoration  of  his  rooms  showed  taste,  and  his  collection 
of  curios  and  antiques  was  an  interesting  one.  At  my  depar- 
ture he  promised  to  send  two  Kurdish  guards  to  accompany 
me  for  three  days  when  I  should  start  on  my  journey  south- 
ward toward  Hamadan. 

After  paying  this  visit  to  the  governor  the  next  ceremony 
was  to  call  upon  one  of  the  native  Khans,  a  lord  of  several 
villages.  Tea,  tobacco,  and  sweetmeats  formed  part  of  the  enter- 
tainment. Following  that  came  a  visit  to  a  Mullah,  or  Moham- 
medan ecclesiastic,  which  completed  the  afternoon,  for  Persian 
calls  last  long.  The  Mullah  was  a  kindly  old  fellow  and  knew 
two  words  of  French,  bon  jour,  which  he  followed  up  with  u^ 
Persian  greeting,  'Your  Worship  is  an  iirumiriatio'n  to  my 
eyes!'  In  this  latter  salutation,  however,  there  wss^ab^ele^ 
ment  of  pathos,  for  the  poor  man  had  become  almost  totally 
blind  a  few  weeks  before.  He  had  been  suffering  from  cataract 
and  had  submitted  to  an  operation  at  the  hands  of  a  native 


102      URUMIAH,  A   SUPPOSED   EARLY  HOME   OF  ZOROASTER 

itinerant  quack  which  had  cost  him  his  sight.  I  could  but 
admire  his  nerve  and  courage  as  he  quietly  told  how  he  held 
his  head  perfectly  still  without  flinching  while  the  charlatan 
thrust  a  needle  into  the  pupil.  We  prolonged  for  some  time 
our  visit  with  the  Mullah  and  his  company  of  Seids,  or  Descend- 
ants of  the  Prophet,  until  it  was  time  to  go,  and  then  we 
walked  on  foot  through  the  streets,  in  order  that  I  might  see 
more  of  the  town. 

Urumiah  has  no  public  edifice  of  any  importance,  but  it  has 
a  church  of  great  antiquity  associated  with  the  Biblical  story 
of  the  Magi  and  indirectly  with  Zoroaster.  This  is  the  old 
Nestorian  church  of  Mart  Mariam,  the  Blessed  Virgin,  now 
a  Russian  sanctuary.  Popular  tradition  says  that  in  the  crypt 
lie  buried  two,  or  at  least  one,  of  the  Magi  who  came  to  wor- 
ship the  infant  Christ  at  Bethlehem.  The  church  may,  there- 
fore, be  regarded  as  an  Eastern  rival  of  the  Cathedral  of 
Cologne,  besides  having  Persian  competitors  in  Savah,  Avah, 
and  perhaps  Kashan.1 

A  legend  regarding  these  Wise  Men  and  the  origin  of  the 
church  was  told  me  by  one  of  the  ladies  of  the  American  Mis- 
sion, who  had  it  from  her  Syriac  teacher  at  Urumiah.  I  recog- 
nized it  at  once  as  a  form  of  the  story  which  is  found  in  the 
apocryphal  New  Testament  Gospel  of  the  Infancy,  recounting 
how  the  Wise  Men  received  from  Mary  the  swaddling-clothes 
of  the  infant  Christ  as  a  gift,  and  on  returning  to  their  country 
made  a  fire  with  which  to  worship  and  consume  the  clothes  ac- 
cording to  their  religion,  but  the  blessed  garments  remained  un- 
seared  in  the  flames  and  became  a  sacred  relic.  A  church  was 
built  in  commemoration  of  the  miracle,  and  it  is  this  edifice 
%h'£$  serves  2aS;|He  Jburial-place  of  the  Magi.  For  convenience  I 
reproduce  t he  "narrative  as  it  appears  in  the  New  Testament 
•^ppor^phfl^  s&i4,&  ,i£  is  also  of  interest  because  of  the  ex- 
press statement  that  the  Wise  Men  came  from  the  East  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  prophecy  delivered  by  Zoroaster  (Zoradascht). 

1  See  p.  412,  below. 


A    CHURCH   WITH  A  LEGEND    OF   THE  MAGI  103 

1 1.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  was  born  at  Bethle- 
hem, a  city  of  Judaea,  in  the  time  of  Herod  the  King;  the  wise 
men  came  from  the  East  to  Jerusalem,  according  to  the  prophecy 
of  Zoradascht,  and  brought  with  them  offerings  :  namely,  gold,  frank- 
incense, and  myrrh,  and  worshipped  him,  and  offered  to  him  their 
gifts.  2.  Then  the  Lady  Mary  took  one  of  his  swaddling  clothes 
in  which  the  infant  was  wrapped,  and  gave  it  to  them  instead  of  a 
blessing,  which  they  received  from  her  as  a  most  noble  present. 
3.  And  at  the  same  time  there  appeared  to  them  an  angel  in  the 
form  of  that  star  which  had  before  been  their  guide  in  their 
journey;  the  light  of  which  they  followed  till  they  returned  into 
their  own  country. 

4.  On  their  return  their  kings  and  princes  came  to  them  inquiring, 
What  they  had  seen  and  done  ?  What  sort  of  journey  and  return 
they  had  ?  What  company  they  had  on  the  road  ?  5.  But  they  'pro- 
duced the  swaddling  cloth  which  St.  Mary  had  given  to  them,  on 
account  whereof  they  kept  a  feast.  6.  And  having,  according  to  the 
custom  of  their  country,  made  a  fire,  they  worshipped  it.  7.  And 
casting  the  swaddling  cloth  into  it,  the  fire  took  it,  and  kept  it.  8. 
And  when  the  fire  was  put  ont,  they  took  forth  the  swaddling  cloth 
unhurt,  as  much  as  if  the  fire  had  not  touched  it.  9.  Then  they  began 
to  kiss  it,  and  put  it  upon  their  heads  and  their  eyes,  saying,  This 
is  certainly  an  undoubted  truth,  and  it  is  really  surprising  that  the 
fire  could  not  burn  it,  and  consume  it.  10.  Then  they  took  it,  and 
with  the  greatest  respect  laid  it  up  among  their  treasures.' x 

This  story  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Infancy  and  the  legend  con- 
nected with  the  church  in  Urumiah  seem  to  be  old  Nestorian 
traditions.2 

Still  another  legend  connecting  Zoroaster's  name  with 
Urumiah  is  recorded.  It  is  referred  to  by  Spiegel,  who  states 
that  in  the  mountain  of  Buzo-daghi,  '  Calf  Mountain,'  to  the 
northeast  of  the  city,  a  cave  is  shown  in  which  the  Prophet 

JNew  Testament  Apocrypha,  In-  New  Testament,  p.  38,  London,  1820, 

fancy,  3.  1-10.  See  also  Walker,  states  that  '  La  Crosse  cites  a  synod  at 

Apocryphal  Gospels,  pp.  100,  103,  Angamala,  in  the  mountains  of  Mala- 

Edinburgh,  1870.  bar,  A.D.  1599,  which  condemns  this 

2  The  Gospel  of  the  Infancy  is  cur-  Gospel  as  commonly  read  by  the  Nes- 

rent,  for  example,  among  the  Nesto-  torians  in  that  country  (i.e.  India).' 
rians  in  India,  and  Hone,  Apocryphal 


104      URUMIAH,   A   SUPPOSED   EARLY  HOME   OF  ZOROASTER 

Zardusht  is  said  to  have  lived.1  This  would  point  apparently 
to  the  tradition  of  Zoroaster's  living  for  a  time  as  a  hermit  in  a 
cave  in  the  Persian  mountains,  but  I  myself  have  not  been  able 
to  get  any  direct  information  regarding  this  story,  and  a  native 
of  Urumiah  has  since  told  me  that  he  knows  of  the  place  only 
as  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  the  Mohammedans  as  'All's  Spring.' 
I  was  later  informed,  however,  that  there  is  a  rock  cavern 
near  Maraghah  on  Mount  Sahand  which  is  pointed  out  as  the 
cave  of  Zardusht.2 

Among  the  observances  at  Urumiah  is  one  which  the  natives 
regard  as  a  reminiscence  of  ancient  sun-worship  —  the  blowing 
of  a  horn  and  the  beating  of  a  kettle-drum  at  sunset.  The 
place  where  this  curfew  signal  is  given  is  called  the  Nakdrah 
Khdnah,  'Band-Tower,'  and  is  situated  near  the  Darwaz-i 
Ark,  the  gate  where  a  citadel  once  stood.  The  horn  that  is  used 
is  more  than  six  feet  in  length,  and  after  the  drum  is  beaten 
for  the  third  time  (uch  tabil  in  Turkish),  no  person  is  al- 
lowed abroad  in  the  streets  except  under  liability  of  arrest. 
A  similar  custom  is  in  use  also  at  Isfahan,  Teheran,  Meshad, 
Bokhara,  and  elsewhere,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  it  has 
nothing  more  to  do  with  sun-worship  than  has  a  sunset  gun  or 
a  curfew  bell.3 

The  bazaars  in  Urumiah  are  in  no  way  remarkable  ;  but 
some  of  the  shops  carry  a  fair  supply  of  European  articles,  one 
of  the  best  shops  being  kept  by  an  Armenian.  The  streets 
have  none  of  the  press  and  throng  of  people  that  mark  the 
more  densely  populated  towns.  The  number  of  inhabitants  is 
variously  estimated  between  fifteen  thousand  and  forty  thousand, 
the  difference  in  the  estimates  being  largely  due  to  whether  the 
surrounding  villages  are  taken  into  account  or  not.  The  major- 
ity of  the  population  are  Persians  ;  the  remainder  is  composed 

1  Spiegel,    tfranische    Alterthums-  to  the  caves  see  p.  61,  n.  1,  above,  and 
kunde,  1.  131,  n.  3,  Leipzig,  1891.  p.  173,  n.  1,  below. 

2  For  traditions  regarding  Zoroas-  8  For  the  usage  in  Teheran  and  other 
ter's  hermit  life,   see  my  Zoroaster,  places,  see  p.  267,  below,  and  Curzon, 
pp.  34,  189  e,  194,  n.  1.     With  regard  Persia,  1.  164,  174,  309,  350 ;  2.  27. 


THE  NESTORIANS  105 

of   Turks,  Afshars,  Assyrian   Nestorians,  some   Armenians,  a 
few  Jews,  and  a  colony  of  Europeans. 

A  special  historic  interest  is  attached  to  the  so-called 
Nestorian  Christians.  They  are  not  of  Persian  blood,  but 
originally  Syrians,  or  rather  Assyrians,  a  term  which  they 
themselves  prefer,  or  Chaldseans,  as  the  French  call  them. 
They  are  descendants  of  the  ancient  followers  of  the  Christian 
bishop  Nestorius,  who  was  excommunicated  in  the  fifth  century 
for  holding  unorthodox  views  concerning  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
not  regarding  him  as  the  God-man,  but  separating  his  human 
personality  from  his  divine  nature.  The  adherents  of  Nes- 
torius  spread  first  into  Persia,  then  far  and  wide  through  Asia, 
carrying  their  sectarian  doctrines  with  them.  In  recent  years  a 
number  of  these  Persian  Nestorians  from  Urumiah  have  come 
as  immigrants  to  America,  which  they  regard  as  a  second 
Eldorado,  and  where  they  have  found  occupation  in  carpet 
shops,  hat  factories,  and  other  industries.  There  is  a  colony  of 
them  in  New  York  and  in  Yonkers,  and  as  a  rule  they  have 
proved  themselves  honest  and  faithful  workers,  anxious  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  educational  opportunities  offered  by 
the  night-schools,  and  keeping  up  their  connection  with  the 
Christian  church. 

A  description  of  Urumiah  would  be  incomplete  without  a 
notice  of  the  Christian  missions  and  their  work  in  this  difficult 
and  dangerous  field.  America,  France,  England,  and  Russia 
are  all  represented  in  the  cause,  and  some  work  is  done  by 
Germans  and  Swedes  in  the  villages  of  the  Urumiah  plain. 
The  Americans  were  the  first  on  the  ground,  in  1835,  under 
the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  For  seventy  years 
they  have  labored  with  devoted  zeal,  teaching,  preaching,  help- 
ing the  poor,  and  ministering  to  the  sick,  for  the  medical  dis- 
pensary plays  an  important  part  in  the  activity  of  the  Mission. 
The  buildings  and  grounds  of  the  Mission  itself,  though  simple 
and  unassuming,  are  an  object-lesson  in  making  a  place  neat, 
homelike,  and  attractive  ;  and  a  separate  department  is  set 


106   V RUM 1 AH,  A  SUPPOSED  EARLY  HOME  OF  ZOROASTER 

aside  as  an  office  for  the  printing-press  which  aids  in  the  evan- 
gelical and  educational  work.  Special  facilities  for  female  edu- 
cation are  given  in  the  Fiske  Seminary,  where  girls  receive  a 
good  schooling  ;  and  opportunities  for  higher  study  are  offered 
to  young  men  in  Urumiah  College,  which  was  founded  by 
the  missionaries  many  years  ago.  It  is  situated  outside  the 
city,  about  twenty  minutes'  ride  to  the  southwest,  in  a  richly 
wooded  enclosure,  like  a  park,  which  served  as  a  place  of 
refuge  for  a  large  number  of  native  Christians  during  the 
Kurdish  raid.  Here  are  gathered  the  various  buildings  of  the 
institution  — halls,  plain  but  serviceable,  recitation-rooms,  simple 
but  neat,  a  small  museum,  a  library  and  offices,  and  last  but  not 
least  the  clinic  and  medical  dispensary  under  Dr.  Cochran's 
supervision. 

The  hospitality  which  I  enjoyed  also  at  the  English  Mission 
gave  me  an  opportunity  to  judge  of  that  good  work  as  well, 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  representatives  of  the  other 
Christian  creeds  in  their  respective  spheres.  At  the  cost  of 
great  personal  sacrifice,  and  even  risk  of  life,  they  are  doing 
their  share  to  fulfil  the  commandment  which  bids  them  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  all  nations.  To  the  Mission  friends,  one 
and  all,  who  were  so  kind  to  me  during  my  stay  I  feel  deeply 
grateful. 

My  heart  was  quite  full  as  I  mounted  my  horse  to  join 
my  pack-caravan,  .led  by  Shahbas,  the  chdrvdddr,  Safar,  my 
faithful  servant,  some  attendants,  and  the  two  guards  provided 
for  my  safety  on  the  journey  by  the  governor,  Majidi  Sultana. 
They  were  both  well  mounted,  but  Safar's  horse  resembled  the 
rake  which  the  Clerk  rode  in  the  Canterbury  Tales.  The 
horse  upon  which  Shahbas  sat  cushioned  —  for  his  pack-saddle 
(pdldri)  was  a  heavy  mattress  of  stuffed  straw  —  looked  better 
fed,  but  he  had  an  uncanny  fashion  once  in  a  while  of  getting 
his  left  forefoot  out  of  joint,  then  hobbling  a  few  feet  till 
he  stopped  or  fell,  unless  chance  meanwhile  twisted  the  dis- 
located joint  back  into  place.  The  pack-horse  was  a  sturdy 


MY    CARAVAN  107 

gray  stallion,  and  his  color  led  to  our  calling  him  Kabud,  liter- 
ally 'blue.'  My  own  animal  was  a  small  but  good  horse,  so 
I  dubbed  him  Rakhsh,  after  the  famous  charger  of  Rustam, 
much  to  the  amusement  of  the  Persians  that  heard  the  name. 
When  all  was  ready  the  signal  was  given,  and  away  our  caval- 
cade started  on  the  twelve  days'  journey  to  Hamadan. 


CHAPTER   X 
BY  CARAVAN   AND   CAVALCADE 

'Where  beasts  and  men  together  o'er  the  plain 
Move  on  —  a  mighty  caravan.' 

—  WORDSWORTH,  Descriptive  Sketches,  8. 

4  MESHADI,  Mesh-a-di,  Mesh-a-a-d-i-i ! '  in  a  gentle  crescendo 
and  with  musical  accent  cries  the  voice  of  our  Persian  servant 
to  awaken  the  naib,  or  master  of  the  caravansarai.  A  muffled 
ball,  bali,  cyes,  yes,'  responds  from  a  distant  corner  of  the 
walled  enclosure,  and  in  a  few  minutes  from  somewhere  in 
the  darkness  there  peers  into  the  mud-built  sleeping-room 
the  owner  of  this  Oriental  title.  In  reality  the  appellative 
Meshadi  designates  a  Moslem  who  has  made  the  pilgrimage 
to  Meshad,  if  not  to  Mecca.  In  practice,  however,  it  is  often 
applied  loosely,  like  our  colonel,  major,  or  professor,  and  fre- 
quently has  little  more  dignity  than  the  colloquial  American 
'boss.'  Yet  Meshadi,  Husein,  or  whatever  his  name  maybe, 
is  probably  a  tall,  dignified  individual,  often  handsome,  with 
rather  tine  features,  a  chiselled  nose,  and  a  broad  forehead 
surmounted  by  a  high  Persian  cap.  In  his  veins  still  flows 
some  of  the  blood  that  made  great  the  race  of  Cyrus ;  but  he 
is  slow,  frequently  shiftless,  at  the  same  time  generally  pos- 
sessed of  an  eye  to  the  main  chance,  but  always  kindly  in  his 
quiet  way. 

The  camel-drivers  are  already  up  and  starting  before  day- 
light. It  is  high  time  to  be  off.  The  dull  dong,  dong  —  not 
ding,  dong,  for  there  is  no  variety  —  coming  from  the  huge 
bells  attached  to  the  dromedaries  and  mules,  tells  that  the  cara- 
van-train, or  Persia's  Twentieth  Century  Express,  is  on  the 
move.  But  he  who  wishes  to  travel  'fast,'  as  there  are  no 

108 


ti     -— 

fc  "3 


PQ 


OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


PREPARATIONS  AT  DAWN  109 

railroads  in  Persia,  must  have  his  own  cayalcade  of  horses,  as 
I  did,  eked  out  sometimes  by  mules  or  even  by  donkeys. 
If  the  route  lies  on  the  beaten  tracks,  one  may  resort  to  post- 
horses  and  go  chdpdr.  But  posthaste  in  the  kingdom  of  the 
Shah  does  not  mean  much,  as  a  rule,  and  patience  unbounded 
is  a  necessary  prerequisite  for  the  traveller  who  does  not  wish 
to  grow  gray  with  anxiety  and  loss  of  temper  at  delays. 

The  sun  is  not  yet  up  ;  murky  darkness  still  floods  the 
caravansarai.  The  small  sleeping-room  above,  or  bald  khdnah, 
as  the  upper  chamber  is  called,  is  lighted  by  the  flicker  of  a 
primitive  palm-oil  lamp,  or  by  a  candle,  if  the  voyager  has 
had  the  forethought  to  purchase  one  at  the  last  bazaar.  All 
this  while,  however,  the  man  in  charge  of  the  wretched  hos- 
telry has  been  silently  standing  at  the  rickety  door  waiting 
for  orders.  But  your  first  inquiry  is  4  Where  are  the  horses ; 
are  they  ready  ?  '  —  asphd  kujd  and,  asphd  hdzir  hastand  ?  The 
unfortunate  necessity  of  asking  this  question  early  will  be 
learned  with  time,  if  time  exists  in  almost  clockless  Persia. 
Only  too  often  it  happens,  unless  one  has  taken  the  precaution 
to  have  the  animals  tied  or  properly  hobbled,  that  the  horses 
have  wandered  off  during  the  night  to  a  distance  of  three  or 
four  miles,  grazing  on  the  plain.  With  camels  there  is  per- 
haps less  chance  of  this,  as  the  wary  camel-driver  has  forced  his 
ungainly  beasts  to  lie  down  in  a  crowded  circle  around  the 
bundles  of  hay  that  serve  as  a  magnet  to  keep  the  nose  of  the 
ship  of  the  desert  duly  pointed  toward  the  fodder  pole.  With 
the  fleet  little  Persian  horses  the  case  is  different.  The  keen 
strain  of  Arab  blood  keeps  up  their  love  of  the  desert,  and  at 
the  slightest  provocation,  unless  controlled,  they  scamper  miles 
away  on  the  plain. 

The  horses  must,  therefore,  be  recovered,  and  the  ncCib  of 
the  caravansarai  summons  his  head  man  to  perform  the  task. 
He  responds  with  the  conventional  chashm,  implying,  '  My 
eyes  are  the  forfeit  if  I  fail  to  do  your  Worship's  bidding,'  and 
disappears  in  the  darkness.  By  experience  it  will  be  found 


110  BY  CARAVAN  AND   CAVALCADE 

well  to  promise  a  silver  tip  to  the  whipper-in's  lash,  if  he  will 
only  secure  the  renegade  horses  betimes,  so  that  the  day's 
journey  may  begin.  This  attractive  promise  is  sufficient  to 
call  forth  a  lazy  stretching  also  on  the  part  of  a  second,  a  third, 
or  a  fourth  attendant,  each  of  whom  slowly  throws  off  the 
lethargy  of  sleep  and  declares  that  he  stands  ready  to  saddle 
and  give  extra  barley  to  the  horses  on  their  return.  In  fact, 
one  of  the  group  gives  assurance  that  the  animals  are  already 
near-by.  God  save  the  phrase  !  4  Near-by '  may  mean  half 
an  hour  or  an  hour  or  more  of  the  traveller's  patience,  who 
thinks  vainly  of  American  speed  and  the  time-table  rush  of 
the  latest  Chicago  Limited. 

The  intervening  time,  however,  has  not  been  vacant,  though 
darkness  still  prevails.  Our  own  excellent  and  faithful  man- 
servant Safar,  who  has  learned  through  Western  contact  the 
meaning  of  the  word  '  hustle '  and  has  caught  the  enigmatic 
force  of  its  indefinable  spell,  has  been  busy  every  moment.  In 
an  instant  he  has  kindled  a  fire  with  a  skill  that  is  the  despair 
of  one  who  looks  upon  the  combustionless  combination  of  damp 
fagots,  sedge  grass,  brier  bush,  and  perhaps  pancakes  of  manure 
fuel.  Fresh  water  (ab-i  tamlz)  has  been  brought  by  invisible 
hands  evoked  out  of  the  darkness.  The  samovar,  or  Russian 
tea-urn,  which  forms  part  of  the  advance  guard  of  encroaching 
Russian  civilization,  is  already  simmering.  A  moment  later, 
while  you  are  adjusting  your  riding-leggings,  the  faithful  Safar 
has  an  improvised  breakfast  of  some  sort  ready  to  be  served  on 
the  mud  floor  of  the  room. 

The  bread  consists  of  huge  leathern  aprons  of  dough,  which 
I  have  already  mentioned  in  describing  the  extraordinary  pro- 
ductions that  result  from  a  combination  of  Persian  wheat  and 
old  Iranian  ovens.  The  loaves  are  not  loaves  in  our  sense,  but 
enormous  flat  pancakes,  two  feet  long,  a  foot  or  more  wide,  and 
of  the  thickness  of  a  griddle-cake.  In  baking  they  are  deftly 
slapped  against  the  side  of  an  earthen  jar  or  oven  sunk  in  the 
floor  of  some  dingy  living-room  or  of  a  real  Persian  bakery  in 


AN  EARLY  BREAKFAST  111 

the  bazaar.  For  travelling  they  are  the  most  convenient  article 
of  food  imaginable,  for  they  serve  not  only  to  be  eaten,  but  also  as 
a  wrapper  to  fold  up  the  knife  and  fork,  a  chicken,  sweetmeats, 
or  what  not,  just  as  one  would  use  heavy  brown  paper.  This 
Persian  bread,  called  nan  or  nun,  according  to  the  dialect,  is 
generally  moist  when  served  and  often  a  bit  soggy;  but  when 
allowed  to  grow  dry  and  crisp,  it  is  excellent  to  the  taste, 
though  sometimes  fatal  to  the  digestion. 

But  all  this  talk  or  description  of  breakfast  is  after  all  only 
a  digression ;  for  if  one  is  in  haste,  the  breakfast  often  consists 
only  of  a  raw  egg,  some  bread,  and  a  good  cup  of  tea,  drunk 
from  a  glass  crammed  half  full  of  sugar.  When  time  allows, 
fortune  may  add  a  bit  of  roast  meat  (kabdb)  or  chicken,  and 
two  or  three  ginger-snaps  as  a  special  treat.  The  latter  are 
the  cherished  remains  of  the  parting  box,  or  present  for  the 
roa.d,  given  instead  of  a  stirrup  cup  by  the  good  housewife 
of  the  missionary  whose  hospitality  it  has  been  a  privilege 
to  enjoy. 

Time  has  all  the  while  been  elapsing.  The  stray  horses 
have  at  last  been  captured,  we  do  not  know  how  far  away. 
Their  thin -shod  hoofs  have  a  cheery  ring  as  they  approach  the 
mamilt  or  halting-place  of  the  caravansarai.  The  pack  must 
therefore  be  made  ready  to  load  upon  the  draught-horse.  This 
is  the  signal  for  commanding  the  mafarashband  to  be  prepared. 
This  piece  of  baggage  consists  of  two  huge  oblong  carpet 
pockets  shaped  like  chests  and  bound  round  with  stout  goat- 
hair  ropes.  All  the  utensils,  including  the  folding  camp-bed, 
must  be  tumbled  into  these  receptacles,  with  an  eye,  however, 
to  equal  balance.  When  both  are  firmly  lashed,  the  sturdy 
chdrvddar,  or  caravan-leader,  skilfully  lifts  the  first  and  after- 
ward the  second  on  his  back  and  staggers  beneath  the  burden 
down  the  unequal  mud  steps  or  lowers  it  from  the  roof  to  the 
court  below,  and  deposits  his  load  on  either  side  of  the  pack- 
horse  or  mule.  With  signals,  hoists,  grunts,  pulls,  tugs,  shoves, 
and  punches,  the  loads  are  finally  lifted  on  the  animal's  back 


112 


B  1*   C  A  R  A  VA  N 


CA  VA  L  CA  D  E 


LOWERING   LUGGAGE   FROM    THE 
HOUSE-TOP  AT  DAWN 


and  properly  adjusted.  Then 
conies  the  tying.  A  Persian 
can  give  points  to  a  jack  tar 
in  the  matter  of  knotting  a 
rope  ;  but  despite  all  the 
skill  the  load  sometimes  does 
slip,  and  it  is  well  to  add 
or  subtract  a  tip  at  the  end 
of  the  day  according  to  the 
way  in  which  the  pack  was 
fastened. 

Saddling  likewise  takes  time,  for  everything  except  money 
goes  slowly  in  Persia.  All  the  native  members  of  the  caval- 
cade, man-servant,  muleteer,  guide,  and  armed  guards,  have 
their  horses'  girths  passed  through  iron  rings  and  cinched. 
Only  the  foreign  Sahib,  or  Master,  with  his  European  saddle 
has  recourse  to  buckles.  Delays  are  still  the  order  of  the  hour, 
and  nothing  but  an  oft-repeated  zud,  zud,  tez,  tez,  'quick, 
quick,  hurry  up,'  followed  by  a  threat  and  then  a  promise  of 
silver,  furnishes  the  means  of  securing  even  the  slowest  haste. 
Among  the  animals  of  the  cavalcade  the  Sahib's  horse  is 
supposed  to  be  the  best,  which  is  not  always  saying  a  great 


THE  START  113 

deal ;  but  usually  better  still  is  the  horse  of  the  head  guard, 
who  owns  his  own  steed,  which  he  proudly  claims  to  be  an 
Arab.  The  pack-horse  generally  has  no  rider.  The  servant 
takes  the  next  best  horse,  and  the  shdgird,  or  postilion  (if  one 
may  dignify  this  individual  by  so  high  a  title),  takes  what  is 
left.  But  the  last  shall  be  first,  as  experience  will  prove,  for 
the  postboy  usually  manages  to  reserve  for  himself  one  of  the 
better  horses  out  of  the  poor  lot,  and  if  he  does  not,  there  is 
little  gain  for  the  traveller.  No  train  goes  faster  than  its  last 
car,  and  the  caravan-leader  is  a  bad  man  to  leave  behind. 

At  last  we  are  ready  to  start.  Nearly  two  hours  of  time 
have  been  used  up,  largely  with  unnecessary  delays.  '  Quick, 
hurry  up ! '  is  again  the  command.  But  payment  for  the 
night's  lodging  must  not  be  forgotten.  It  is  paid  to  the  over- 
seer of  the  manzil.  A  gratuity  given  to  him  generally  means 
the  same  as  a  tip  to  all  —  as  to  the  head  waiter  in  the  Vienna 
cafe  system.  If  the  gift  be  large  enough  to  meet  the  general 
approval,  a  combined  good  wish,  khudd  hdfiz,  4  God  be  mindful 
of  you,'  greets  the  departing  company,  and  a  word  of  praise, 
khaill  khub,  '  very  good,'  is  bestowed  upon  the  best  horse  and 
serves  as  an  omen  of  promise  for  the  journey. 

As  we  ride  out  through  the  low  door  of  the  courtyard,  dark- 
ness is  just  beginning  to  vanish.  For  safe  travelling  it  is 
always  well  to  have  the  light  of  day.  We  find  ourselves 
a  moment  later  in  the  midst  of  a  passing  caravan.  We  join 
the  motley  assembly  of  camels,  horses,  mules,  donkeys,  mule- 
teers on  foot,  pilgrims,  and  merchants,  that  make  up  this 
heterogeneous  company.  The  never  ceasing  dong,  dong  of  the 
big  copper  bells,  the  rasping  bray  of  the  little  donkeys  that  are 
wide  awake,  but  staggering  beneath  crushing  loads,  the  dull 
pace  of  the  wag-eared  mules  prodded  on  by  their  drivers,  the 
chatter  of  the  men,  and  the  peculiar  odor  of  the  scraggly- 
coated  camels,  make  a  deep  impression  on  the  senses.  The 
gray  streaks  of  dawn  now  lighten  in  the  horizon.  The  sky 
takes  on  a  more  silvery  hue.  Night  withdraws  her  star- 


114  BY  CARAVAN  AND   CAVALCADE 

bespangled  fan  and  reveals  the  blush  of  dawn.  The  night- 
ingale's song  is  hushed  before  the  carol  of  the  lark.  And  out 
of  the  cavern  of  the  hills  the  sun  rises  in  splendor  to  shed  its 
glory  as  of  old  over  the  ancient  land  of  Iran.1 

Such  is  the  composite  picture  left  on  my  mind  by  many 
weeks  of  caravaning  through  Persia  ;  but  few  of  my  earlier 
journeys  were  started  amid  sunshine  and  the  carol  of  birds. 
Winter  still  reigned  during  most  of  the  time  I  was  in  Azarbai- 
jan,  and  persistently  refused  to  give  up  his  sway  ;  the  calendar 
pointed  to  the  end  of  March  when  I  left  Urumiah,  but  spring 
was  a  long  way  off,  and  snow  and  bad  roads  were  a  constant 
source  of  delay  on  the  journey  and  were  destined  to  be  so  for 
a  fortnight  and  more  to  come. 

For  the  first  three  days  after  leaving  Urumiah  I  had  the  com- 
pany of  a  Nestorian  friend,  Rev.  Yaroo  M.  Neesan,  whom  I 
had  met  in  America  a  number  of  years  before,  when  I  began 
my  Persian  studies,  and  who  is  now  a  priest  in  the  Anglican 
Mission  at  Van.  He  knew  the  country  round  about  as  only  a 
native  can,  and  his  fund  of  information  and  stock  of  anecdotes 
were  inexhaustible.  I  still  can  see  the  humorous  twinkle  in 
his  eye  as  he  put  on  his  cartridge-belt  and  pistol,  before  we 
mounted,  and  said,  patting  it  affectionately,  'It  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive  (bullets)  !  ' 

To  beguile  the  time  as  we  rode  along,  he  told  story  after 
story  in  a  manner  that  would  have  delighted  Chaucer's  heart. 
It  was  now  an  account  of  the  old  woman  whose  cleverness  saved 
the  citadel  of  Van  in  time  of  siege  by  bidding  her  beleaguered 
countrymen  adopt  the  strategy  of  pouring  down  from  the 
citadel  showers  of  fine  white  ashes.  These  the  enemy  took  for 
flour  and  abandoned  the  siege,  because  it  seemed  useless  to 
beleaguer  a  fortress  so  well  supplied  with  food  that  its  oc- 
cupants could  thus  lavishly  throw  away  flour.  Next  it  was 
the  tale  of  the  witty  vizir  whose  artful  dodge  made  Shah 
Abbas  pay  for  the  dish  of  cherries  which  he  himself  had  eaten  ; 
1  See  my  letter  in  the  Evening  Post,  New  York,  October  3,  1903. 


STORIES  BY  THE    WAYSIDE  115 

or,  once  again,  an  exciting  narrative  of  Yaroo's  own  experience 
when  attacked  by  bandits  some  years  before,  while  returning 
from  Sauj  Bulak  —  a  reminiscence  called  forth  by  passing  a 
pile  of  stones  heaped  up  by  the  roadside  to  mark  the  spot 
where  a  native  had  been  murdered  a  month  before.  The  soft 
piping  of  a  Kurdish  shepherd  in  the  hills  turned  the  conversa- 
tion to  pastoral  life.  Neesan  had  tended  the  flocks  in  his  youth, 
and  he  told  how  the  shepherds,  as  in  the  Bible,  knew  every 
sheep  by  name,  how  they  would  sometimes  seek  shelter  from 
the  cold  by  sleeping  in  the  mud  enclosures  built  to  protect 
the  sheep  at  night  on  the  plain,  and  he  described  some  of  the 
primitive  shepherd  customs  handed  down  from  the  earliest 
antiquity.  All  the  birds  that  hovered  about,  the  long- tailed 
magpie,  thrush,  and  crested  lark,  seemed  to  be  familiar  friends, 
while  the  eagles  and  kites  soaring  above  our  heads  were  old 
acquaintances  of  his.  And  so  the  journey  proceeded. 

Saatlu,  near  Diza-Takiah,  was  our  resting-place  for  the  first 
night.  Here  the  courtesy  of  our  native  host,  who  was  a  rela- 
tive of  Mr.  Neesan,  appeared  to  contrast  strangely  with  the 
fierce  appearance  given  him  by  a  huge  dagger  at  his  belt  and 
the  gun  which  lay  by  his  side  at  night  to  forestall  a  surprise  or 
raid.  The  equipment  of  his  arsenal  seemed  to  be  plentiful,  but 
no  less  abundant  was  the  supply  of  provisions  in  his  larder. 
From  these  he  gave  us  in  profusion  at  supper  that  evening,  and 
it  was  then  that  I  noticed  for  the  first  time  the  fondness  of  the 
Persians  for  melted  butter  (roghari).  A  new  significance  was 
thus  imparted  to  the  Avestan  passage  which  describes  how 
zaremaya  raoghna,  c  clarified  butter  of  springtime,'  is  the  first 
food  which  the  faithful  who  have  died  in  Zoroaster's  creed 
receive  when  they  enter  into  Paradise.1 

Before  daybreak  I  was  awakened  by  a  messenger  who 
entered  my  room  armed  with  gun  and  pistol.  He  had 
come  from  Urumiah  and  had  ridden  through  the  night  to 
deliver  to  me  a  cablegram  which  had  reached  the  city  after 

i  Yt.  22.  18. 


116  BY  CARAVAN  AND    CAVALCADE 

sunset.  The  city  gates  were  closed,  and  the  guards,  taking 
him  for  a  horse-thief,  had  refused  to  let  him  pass  until  he  pre- 
sented his  credentials,  when  he  was  allowed  to  hasten  on  his 
way  to  overtake  my  caravan.  The  cable  had  become  much 
garbled  in  the  course  of  transmission,  but  happily  the  cipher 
contained  good  news  from  my  distant  home. 


A  PERSIAN  TELEGRAM 

By  this  time  day  had  broken  and  after  a  good  breakfast  in 
Persian  style  our  pack  was  put  in  order  by  the  servants,  and 
we  were  ready  for  an  early  start.  Neighing  horses,  barking 
dogs,  and  an  oft-repeated  khudd  hdfiz  from  our  host  and  his 
friends  sped  us  onward  upon  our  journey  along  the  shores  of 
the  blue  lake  of  Urumiah. 

The  village  of  Mahmadyar,  a  place  of  about  one  hundred 
houses,  was  our  next  night's  lodging  after  ten  hours  on  the 
road,  and  we  again  enjoyed  native  hospitality,  this  time  in  a 
large  living-room  filled  with  men,  women,  children,  and  smoke. 
Owing  to  the  cold  weather  and  the  rain,  all  were  huddled 
together  around  the  urn-shaped  hole  in  the  mud  floor  contain- 


A  CARAVAN  OF  NOMADS 


KB* 


CHACHILI  HILL,  NEAR  URUMIAH 


A   NIGHT  AT  MAHMADYAR  117 

ing  some  smoldering  embers.  A  baby  in  its  mother's  arms 
was  choking  with  the  croup,  and  another  small  tot  was  gasp- 
ing with  whooping-cough.  The  rest  of  the  children,  however, 
looked  healthy  and  kept  constantly  running  in  and  out,  chatter- 
ing and  playing,  while  the  women  were  occupied  with  their 
work.  The  women,  like  the  men,  were  dressed  in  a  common 
blue  cotton  cloth,  usually  with  their  feet  and  limbs  bare  to  the 
knees,  and  wore  a  red  kerchief  about  the  head.  Their  faces 
were  not  veiled,  because  the  village  women,  especially  among 
the  Kurds,  do  not  conceal  their  features,  and  as  these  women 
were  Armenians  and  Nestorian  Persians,  they  moved  about  with 
greater  freedom  from  restraint  in  the  presence  of  the  men. 
The  men,  meanwhile,  were  holding  a  conference  and  drew 
nearer  together  to  discuss  a  matter  requiring  important  con- 
sideration. A  band  of  Kurds  had  come  down  and  carried  off  a 
young  Armenian  girl  from  the  village,  and  had  disappeared 
with  the  captive  over  the  mountains.  The  deliberation  of  the 
council  resulted  in  maturing  a  plan  for  restitution  or  revenge, 
and  an  appeal  was  also  sent  to  the  governor  at  Urumiah  ;  but 
I  never  heard  what  the  outcome  of  the  affair  was. 

Early  in  the  morning  my  caravan  was  on  the  march,  and  I 
had  an  opportunity  of  making  what  I  believe  to  be  an  interest- 
ing identification  in  connection  with  Zoroaster's  ministry  — 
locating  the  district  where  he  most  probably  made  his  first 
convert.  This  was  near  the  village  of  Khor  Khorah,  between 
Mahmadyar,  Daralak,  and  Miandoab.  From  tradition  we 
know  that  the  first  adherent  won  by  Zoroaster  for  his  religion 
was  his  own  cousin,  named  Maidhyoi-maonha  in  the  Avesta, 
and  Medhyo-mah  in  Pahlavi.1  The  scene  of  the  conversion 
is  located  by  the  Pahlavi  writings  of  Zatsparam  '  in 
the  forest  of  reedy  hollows,  which  is  the  haunt  of  swine 
of  the  wild  boar  species.'2  Now  we  know  that  Zoroaster 
passed  much  of  the  earlier  part  of  his  life  in  the  region  of  Lake 

1  On  the  tradition  of  Zoroaster's  first  cf .  Rosenberg,  Livre  de  Zoroastre,  p.  24. 
convert,  see  my  Zoroaster,  p.  54,  and  2  Zatsparam  2.  38. 


118  BY  CARAVAN  AND    CAVALCADE 

Urumiah  (Av.  Chaechasta),  and  that  the  southern  shores  of 
this  lake,  from  times  of  antiquity,  have  been  covered  with  great 
tracts  of  reeds.  The  map  to-day  shows  a  '  Forest  of  Reeds,' 
some  sixty  miles  in  extent,  and  I  had  already  heard  accounts  of 
this  when  I  was  in  Tabriz  and  Urumiah.  The  'forest  of 
reedy  hollows '  in  the  Zoroastrian  tradition  is  evidently  iden- 
tical with  this.  The  highroad  which  leads  around  the  lake 
and  toward  Ragha  (now  Rei)  near  Teheran,  where  Zoroaster's 
mother  is  said  to  have  been  born,  passes  along  its  very  edge. 
The  region  abounds  in  'hollows'  and  'reeds,'  and  I  saw 
immense  masses  of  the  slender  stalks,  some  of  them  fifteen  or 
twenty  feet  high,  cut  from  the  '  forest,'  and  I  heard  a  number 
of  stories  from  people  who  had  been  lost  among  them  in  the 
marshes.  In  this  region,  likewise,  '  the  swine  of  the  wild  boar 
species  abounds,'  and  the  animals  are  hunted  for  sport  by  the 
natives.  They  are  not  eaten,  however,  by  the  Mohammedans, 
to  whom  the  flesh  of  the  hog  is  forbidden  by  the  Koran,  but  by 
the  Armenians,  who  have  no  such  religious  scruples  in  the 
matter  and  derive  actual  benefit  in  the  way  of  food  from  the 
chase.1  The  surroundings  of  the  place  combine  with  what  we 
know  of  Zoroaster's  life  from  traditional  sources  —  the  A  vesta, 
Zatsparam  selections,  Zartusht-Namah,  and  other  works  —  to 
make  it  reasonably  probable  that  this  4  Forest  of  Reeds,'  south 
of  Lake  Urumiah,  is  the  region  at  least  to  which  the  passage 
refers,  even  if  we  cannot  identify  the  precise  spot.2 
,  At  noon  that  same  day,  after  luncheon  at  Daralak,  I  was 
obliged  to  lose  Mr.  Neesan's  good  company,  as  his  missionary 
duties  called  him  to  Sauj  Bulak.  I  parted  from  him  with 
regret,  and  the  afternoon  was  lonely  without  him,  despite  the 
novel  experience  of  camel  riding,  which  I  tried  as  a  change 
from  horseback.  The  dromedary  which  I  mounted  was  one  of 

1  Cf.  Koran  (tr.  Sale),  chap.  2,  p.  18  ;  experiences  in  this  *  forest  of  grass  and 
5,  p.  73,  etc.  reeds,'  compare  Perkins,  Eight  Years 

2  See  my  article  in  JAOS.  25.  183-  in  Persia,  pp.   193-194 ;  consult  also 
184  ;  and,  for  a  description  of  some  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  106. 


S  ARAL  AN,   A  VILLAGE   OF  MUD  HOUSES 


KHOR  KHORAH,  NEAR  THE  FOREST  OF  REEDS 
(Probably  the  district  where  Zoroaster  made  his  first  convert) 


TRADITION   OF  ZOROASTER'S  FIRST  CONVERT  119 

the  finest  specimens  of  camel  flesh  that  I  saw  in  Persia,  but  I 
was  glad  to  change  back  again  to  my  horse,  as  the  creature's 
gait  was  atrocious  and  one  needs  to  be  a  good  sailor  to  navi- 
gate with  success  the  ship  of  the  desert. 

Sunset  found  my  caravan  entering  Miandoab,  a  town  of  sev- 
eral thousand  inhabitants,  well  named  'between  two  rivers' 
(midn  do  db)  from  its  situation  between  the  Jagati  and  the 
Tatavu.1  Here  I  received  a  pleasant  visit  from  an  Armenian- 
Persian  for  whom  I  had  brought  letters  from  Urumiah.  As 
we  chatted  on  various  subjects  I  told  him  that  I  had  been  un- 
able thus  far  to  meet  with  any  followers  of  Zoroaster's  creed 
in  Azarbaijan.  He  replied  that  this  was  not  surprising  to  him, 
for  he  knew  of  but  one  Fire- Worshipper  (Atash-Parast)  in  the 
district  of  Miandoab,  and  that  man  called  himself  a  Babi, 
a  follower  of  the  religious  reformer  whom  I  have  previously 
mentioned.  It  may  be  possible  that  this  '  Babi '  may  have 
actually  turned  from  Zoroastrianism  to  Babism,  but  more  likely 
that  he  had  chosen  to  conceal  his  religion  under  the  garb  of 
that  eclectic  faith  for  fear  of  persecution  from  fanatical  Mo- 
hammedans, at  whose  hands  non-acknowledgment  of  the  Mos- 
lem creed  may  mean  cruel  oppression,  and  apostasy  from 
Islam,  death. 

Miandoab  itself  lies  in  the  undulating  region  southeast  of  the 
lake,  at  a  height  of  four  thousand  two  hundred  feet  above  sea- 
level  ;  and  from  this  point  the  territory  begins  to  be  hilly  and 
leads  steadily  upward  through  fine  scenery  in  the  high  passes 
of  the  Mian  Bulagh  Mountains  to  Sanjud.  Before  reaching 
these  we  had  to  cross  the  Jagati  River,  which  we  did  next  day 

1 1  did  not  know  until  after  my  in  Zt.  f.  Ethnol.  ( Verhandl.  Berl.  An- 

return  to  America  that  at  Dashtapah,  throp.  Gesellsch. ) 26  (1894),  pp.479  seq. 

near  the  reed  forest  in  the  neighbor-  (cf.Streck,  Zt.f.Assyr.  14. 144).  There 

hood  of  Miandoab,  there  is  a  cunei-  is  also  a  rock-hewn  cave  in  the  same 

form  inscription  on  a  rock,  and  there  region  (Wilson,    Handbook   of  Asia 

is  said  to  be  one  also  in  the  vicinity  of  Minor,  p.  324,  and  de  Morgan,  Mission 

Sauj  Bulak ;  cf.  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  Scientifique  en  Perse,  4.  294-296). 
pp.  99,  105 ;  Belck,  Inschr.  Taschtepe, 


120  BY  CARAVAN  AND    CAVALCADE 

in  a  huge  scow  that  was  large  enough  to  ferry  our  horses  and 
all  across.  I  expected  to  make  an  extra  stage'  in  that  day's 
journey,  as  I  had  become  thoroughly  accustomed  to  early 
starts  and  long  marches ;  but  I  only  reached  Kashavar,  a  vil- 
lage with  an  old  fort,  at  which  we  arrived  about  three  in  the 
afternoon.  Here  I  came  into  violent  collision  with  my  cara- 
van-leader Shahbas,  because  of  his  negligence  and  laziness. 
Every  one  who  travels  in  Persia  is  familiar  with  the  struggle 
one  usually  has  to  go  through  with  his  chdrvdddr  early  in  the 
journey,  until  it  is  settled  once  for  all  that  the  master  is 
master  and  will  tolerate  no  slackness,  although  ready  promptly 
to  reward  good  service.  Shahbas  had  yet  to  learn  this  lesson 
and  be  cured  of  some  of  his  shortcomings,  and  the  first  dose  of 
the  medicine,  which  varied  from  gentleness  and  coaxing,  bribes 
and  rewards,  to  sternness  and  chastisement,  was  administered 
at  Kashavar.  This  needed  to  be  repeated  a  few  times  after- 
ward, and  with  excellent  effect,  so  that  by  the  end  of  a  month, 
when  I  dismissed  Shahbas  to  return  to  Urumiah,  he  had  be- 
come quite  a  model,  as  far  as  a  Persian  muleteer  can  be,  and 
was  well  rewarded  for  his  improvement. 

My  man-servant  Safar,  on  the  other  hand,  who  had  been 
capable  from  the  outset,  showed  himself  more  reliable  and 
valuable  every  day.  The  effect  of  his  training  among  the 
missionaries  manifested  itself  in  many  ways,  and  his  quickness 
and  intelligence  were  a  delight  to  me.  To  improve  his  Eng- 
lish and  my  Persian,  we  used  sometimes  at  night  to  read  and 
translate  a  simple  story-book  which  had  -been  given  him,  and 
with  his  English  vocabulary  his  manners  also  seemed  to  im- 
prove. He  learned  how  to  be  polite  in  his  address,  and  his 
first  blunt  '  yes '  soon  gave  place  to  a  more  courteous  '  yes,  sir,' 
and  he  knew  what  it  meant  to  say  4  thank  you '  -  —  a  phrase  not 
common  among  the  Persians  of  the  lower  classes.  His  busi- 
nesslike methods  in  looking  after  my  interests  came  more  and 
more  to  the  front ;  he  found  ways  I  should  never  have 
thought  of  for  saving  me  money,  and  was  quite  impatient  at 


FROM  MIANDOAB    TO   SANJUD  121 

my  readiness  to  pay  rather  than  debate  a  price.  His  honesty, 
moreover,  was  unimpeachable,  and  he  was  likewise  always  help- 
ful in  arranging  the  details  of  the  journey.  The  next  stages 
of  the  march  proceeded  well,  except  when  my  horse  Rakhsh 
was  taken  with  a  chill  and  cramps  in  the  mountain  pass  after 
leaving  Sain  Kalah,1  and  I  feared  I  should  have  to  leave  the 
animal  dead  on  the  road  where  he  lay.  Shahbas,  however, 
worked  over  him,  and  we  managed  to  pull  Rakhsh  through,  so 
that  we  reached  Sanjud  all  right,  though  late  in  the  afternoon. 

Sanjud,  where  I  passed  that  night,  April  2,  is  situated  on  the 
side  of  a  steep  ravine  amid  masses  of  rugged  mountains.  The 
approach  to  it  from  the  north  lies  over  high  ridges,  through  deep 
defiles,  and  past  precipices,  beneath  which  there  run  streams 
transformed  into  torrents  by  the  rains  and  melting  snows. 

The  night  was  a  cold  one,  but  the  panes  of  oiled  paper  in  the 
windows  shut  out  some  of  the  wind,  and  the  fire  burned 
brightly.  Around  it  were  gathered  a  number  of  villagers, 
who  made  pretexts  to  come  and  interview  the  farangi,  most 
often  to  beg  remedies  for  various  ailments.  One  old  man,  a 
Kurd,  stayed  all  the  evening.  He  seemed  to  be  a  worthy 
personage  and  offered  me  the  company  of  his  two  sons  to  act 
as  guides  the  next  day,  as  Shahbas  did  not  know  the  road  to 
Ahmadabad  and  Takht-i  Suleiman.  The  two  appeared  to  be 
reliable  fellows  and  of  a  sturdy  type.  I  looked  them  over 
by  the  flickering  light  of  a  lamp  made  of  an  earthen  bowl, 
filled  with  the  oil  of  the  castor  plant,  into  which  was  stuck  a 
piece  of  cotton  twist  to  serve  as  a  wick,  for  there  was  not  even 
a  tallow  dip  in  the  village.  To  be  sure  that  they  would  come 
back  in  the  morning,  I  took  from  the  father  a  befr,  or  pawn, 
which  he  deposited  as  a  guarantee  for  their  appearance,  and 
they  departed  with  the  promise  to  return  betimes  —  inshdllah! 
Before  sunrise  they  both  were  on  hand,  ready  to  guide  the  way 
over  the  heavy  passes. 

1  In  the  vicinity  of  Sain  Kalah  there  the  site  of  an  ancient  fire-temple  ;  see 
is  reported  to  be  a  mound  of  ashes,  Bishop,  Journeys  in  Persia,  2.  197. 


122  BY  CARAVAN  AND    CAVALCADE 

The  snow  lay  two  feet  deep  on  the  side  of  the  hills  and  some- 
times three  or  four  in  the  gullies.  Twice  that  day  the  horse 
which  I  rode  went  down  under  me  in  its  treacherous  depths. 
The  glare  from  its  white  surface,  when  the  sun  came  up,  was 
dazzling  and  set  up  a  painful  inflammation  in  my  eyes,  one  of  the 
first  stages  of  snow-blindness.  In  places  where  the  snow  had 
melted,  the  mud  was  an  obstacle  to  progress,  so  our  advance 
was  slow  during  most  of  the  morning  and  afternoon.  As  we 
crossed  the  last  ridge  of  hills  the  snow  lessened,  but  the  rough- 
ness of  the  road  increased,  since  the  path  led  for  some  distance 
along  the  rocky  and  precipitous  bank  of  a  river.  The  horses 
insisted  upon  walking  as  near  the  edge  of  the  cliff  as  possible, 
and  it  was  sometimes  a  marvel  that  they  kept  their  footing. 
Rocks  now  and  then  almost  totally  barred  the  way  and  we  had 
to  descend  to  the  river's  brink  or  else  surmount  them.  It  was 
no  wonder  that  the  load  on  the  pack-horse  often  became  loose, 
causing  a  halt.  I  remember  one  jutting  crag  in  particular, 
which  stood  like  a  giant  buttress  directly  in  our  path.  It  was 
impossible  to  go  around  in  front  of  it,  and  the  only  way  was  to 
climb  up  back  of  it.  The  angle  seemed  almost  perpendicular, 
and  to  sit  in  the  saddle  was  out  of  the  question  ;  so  we  had  to 
dismount  and  scramble  up  past  the  crag  as  best  we  could, 
tugging  the  struggling  horses  behind  us.  As  darkness  began 
to  fall,  the  mountain  gorges  became  dangerous  because  of  rob- 
bers, and  at  each  turn  in  the  road  it  interested  me  to  watch 
the  two  guards  lower  their  guns  to  the  saddle-bow,  the  one 
riding  a  short  distance  ahead,  the  other  dropping  behind. 
Thus  we  pushed  on  until  after  sundown,  when  we  reached 
Ahmadabad,  our  manzil  for  the  night. 

The  place  where  we  lodged  adjoined  a  cow-stable,  but  it  was 
a  well-constructed  building,  the  only  one  with  two  stories  in 
the  village.  The  master  of  the  house  was  entertaining  his 
brother  and  some  friends  as  guests  for  the  night,  but  he  offered 
me  a  welcome  if  I  was  willing  to  share  the  room  with  the  party, 
to  which  I  gladly  consented.  I  found  that  I  had  really  to  con- 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 

iFQfifii! 


A   ROUGH  ROAD    TO  AHMADABAD  123 

tribute  my  share  also  toward  the  entertainment,  however,  by 
being  constantly  on  exhibition  before  the  company,  who  plied 
me  with  questions  till  past  midnight,  though  I  should  have 
been  glad  to  sleep  and  to  rest  my  inflamed  eyes.  At  last  all 
were  ready  to  retire  ;  the  Persians  crept  under  the  quilts  that 
covered  the  kursi>  or  brazier,  made  like  a  low  wooden  table 
over  the  fire -hole  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  while  I  took  to 
the  blankets  of  my  camp-bed. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,   AN   ANCIENT   FORTIFIED  TOWN 
IN   RUINS 

*  We  scrutinize  the  dates 
Of  long-past  human  things, 
The  bounds  of  effaced  states, 
The  lines  of  deceased  kings ; 

We  search  out  dead  men's  words,  and  works  of  dead  men's  hands.' 
—  MATTHEW  ARNOLD,   Empedocles  on  Etna. 

THE  sun  had  not  yet  drawn  his  sword  from  the  scabbard  of 
night  —  to  adopt  an  Oriental  phrase — before  I  was  again  in 
the  saddle  and  ready  to  start  from  Ahmadabad  to  Takht-i 
Suleiman,  or  4  Solomon's  Throne,'  a  ruined  fortified  city  which 
Rawlinson  claimed  to  be  the  capital  of  Media.  I  obtained  as 
guide  a  peasant  who  was  more  familiar  with  the  site  than  my 
own  guides,  and  we  set  off  at  a  brisk  canter  as  the  sun  began 
to  show  over  the  hills,  disclosing  to  the  view  Mount  Zindan, 
4  Solomon's  Dungeon,'  toward  which  we  directed  our  course. 

The  path  lay  along  the  crest  of  a  volcanic  ridge.  This  eleva- 
tion, formed  partly  of  grayish-brown  lava  from  the  crater  of 
Zindan,  extends  for  two  or  three  miles  like  the  prostrate  form 
of  some  huge  giant  whose  head  is  Mount  Zindan.  There  is  no 
longer  any  life  in  the  monstrous  frame,  but  from  the  cavernous 
mouth  of  the  hill  there  still  arise  blasts  of  fetid  air,  which  lead 
one  to  wonder  whether  Mount  Arezurahe  Griva,  '  Neck  of  the 
Demon  Arezura,'  the  entrance  to  hell  in  the  Avesta,  may  not 
have  been  an  extinct  crater  like  this  prison  of  the  Dlvs. 

The  hard  basaltic  conglomerate  of  the  ridge  echoed  with  a 
hollow  sound  as  we  galloped  over  it,  and  a  score  of  tiny  warm 
calcareous  springs  bubbled  up  from  a  row  of  miniature  craters 

124 


A  MOUNTED  GUARD 


A  TYPICAL  PERSIAN  VILLAGE 


^     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


MOUNT    ZINDAN  125 

and  showed  the  igneous  origin  of  the  ridge.  It  took  me  per- 
haps half  an  hour  to  reach  the  base  of  Solomon's  Prison  Height, 
which  rises  to  an  elevation  of  nearly  four  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  above  the  plain  and  is  capped  by  a  massive  cone  of  con- 
glomerate produced  by  the  discharge  from  the  interior  of  the 
volcano.1  The  ascent  to  the  summit  of  the  rocky  mass  is  very 
steep.  On  reaching  the  top  I  found  the  rim  of  the  crater  to 
be  about  three  hundred  feet  in  circumference,  and  as  I  peered 
over  into  the  dizzy  abyss  I  could  but  think  of  Milton's  lines :  — 

*  And  in  that  lowest  deep  a  lower  deep, 
Still  threatening  to  devour,  opens  wide. ' 

The  natives,  in  fact,  regard  the  funnel-like  shaft  of  Zindan 
as  a  bottomless  pit,  and  there  is  no  question  that  its  depth  must 
be  several  hundred  feet,  judging  from  the  time  required  for  a 
stone  to  reach  what  seemed  to  be  the  bottom.  Crawling  as 
near  to  the  edge  as  I  dared,  and  looking  down,  I  could  discern 
near  the  bottom  a  patch  of  snow,  which  showed  that  that  part 
of  the  crater  is  not  warm  now,  but  there  was  perhaps  a  still 
lower  depth,  invisible,  from  which  issued  the  sulphurous  fumes 
that  were  exhaled  to  the  air  above. 

The  view  from  the  peak  of  Zindan  is  a  fine  one.  On  all 
sides  rise  lofty  mountains.  One  of  these  to  the  north,  called 
Takht-i  Bilkis,  '  Throne  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba,'  towers  sky- 
ward to  the  height  of  ten  thousand  feet,  and  on  its  summit  (so 
legends  say)  King  Solomon  built  a  summer  palace  for  his 
beloved.  The  ridges  to  the  east  are  less  high,  but  they  com- 
bine with  the  others  to  form  a  huge  caldron  and  shut  in  the 
plain,  out  of  the  midst  of  which  rises  a  low  hill  of  scarped  rock 
crowned  with  the  ruins  of  Takht-i  Suleiman.  The  real  size  of 
the  hill  of  the  Takht  is  dwarfed  by  the  height  of  the  surrounding 

1  Throughout  I  have  taken  Zindan,  the  hill  as  a  '  cinter '  cone  and  assigns 

and  the  ridge  formed  from  it,  to  be  of  to  the  mountain  an  aqueous  origin  ;  so 

igneous  origin.      Rawlinson    (Journ.  do  also  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  162, 

Roy.  Geog.  Soc.  10.  53-54),  however,  and  Gordon,  Persia  Bevisited,  p.  62, 

describes  the  scarped,  rocky  crest  of  following  Rawlinson. 


126      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,   AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 

mountains,  but  its  appearance  and  the  shape  of  the  enclosure 
on  its  summit  recalled  to  my  mind  the  description  of  the 
Vara  of  Yima  Khshaeta  (Jamshid)  in  the  Avesta,  although 
tradition  does  not  locate  the  Vara  in  this  particular  region.1 

Leaving  the  horses  at  the  base  of  Mount  Zindan  I  started  on 
foot  with  my  guides  over  the  snow  toward  the  deserted  ruin, 
half  a  mile  or  more  distant.  The  sun  was  now  some  degrees 
above  the  horizon,  and  the  glare  from  the  crystal  plain  became 
excruciating  to  my  inflamed  eyes.  I  held  my  black  hat  before 
my  face  for  relief,  but  it  availed  little  against  the  blaze  of  light, 
and  I  hurried  forward  as  fast  as  I  could  to  reach  my  goal.  As 
I  approached  them,  the  huge  ramparts  and  colossal  bastions 
of  the  massive  pile,  between  thirty  and  forty  feet  high,  came 
out  in  their  true  proportions.  The  entrance  to  the  stronghold 
was  once  made  by  four  great  gateways,  roughly  facing  the 
cardinal  points.  Not  all  the  details  of  these  were  clear,  since 
the  snow  was  much  drifted  against  them  and  the  western  ram- 
part is  falling  into  ruins.  On  scaling  the  battlements  at  this 
point  I  could  make  out,  more  or  less  distinctly,  the  general 
outline  of  the  entire  oblong  enclosure,  which  is  about  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  in  circuit ;  yet  it  seemed  to  me  hardly  pos- 
sible to  reconstruct,  even  in  imagination,  any  walls  within  the 
great  stronghold  itself,  unless  we  should  convert  into  such 
structures  what  I  regarded  as  the  outlines  of  a  drive  or  cause- 
way. I  mention  this  fact  now  because  of  its  relation  to  the 
problem  of  the  identification  of  the  site  of  Ecbatana,  which  I 
shall  touch  on  later,  pointing  out  how  important  a  part  is  played 
by  the  battlements.2 

Within  the  enclosure  the  first  feature  that  strikes  the  eye  is 
the  remains  of  two  walls  of  stone  and  brick  that  once  formed 

1  Cf.  Bd.  29.  14  ;  29.  5  ;  32.  5.  says,  *  Of  the  seven  walls,  one  alone  is 

2  See  pp.  151-166,  below.    I  have  to  be  traced ;  and  even  here  the  Median 
since  found  that  Canon  George  Raw-  structure  has  perished  and  been  re- 
linson,  following  his  brother,  Sir  Henry,  placed  by  masonry  of  a  far  later  age' 
in  the  belief  that  Takht-i  Suleiman  rep-  (  Five  Great  Monarchies,  3.  27). 
resents  the  ancient  Median  Ecbatana, 


THE  MOUNTAIN  STRONGHOLD  127 

part  of  a  rather  high  structure  facing  eastward.  The  side 
walls  of  this  building,  though  shattered  and  crumbling,  are 
still  standing,  and  they  show  that  the  edifice  could  not  have 
been  less  than  a  hundred  feet  long  and  forty  feet  wide.  To  me, 
even  in  the  distance,  they  did  not  give  the  impression  of  great 
antiquity,  certainly  not  of  antedating  the  Mohammedan  con- 
quest, and  this  fact  was  proved  by  the  fragments  of  Arabic 
letters  inscribed  upon  what  had  once  been  the  portal.1 

Some  thirty  yards  to  the  north-northeast  are  the  remains  of 
a  second  structure,  an  arched  and  vaulted  building  partly 
sunk  below  the  ground  and  now  largely  a  mass  of  rubbish  and 
debris.  Its  domelike  outline  rising  amid  the  snowy  surround- 
ings may  be  seen  in  my  photograph,  and  its  general  position 
with  reference  to  the  other  remains  in  a  rough  sketch  I  made 
of  the  general  elevation  at  this  point.  Conspicuous  are  the 
two  arched  portals  through  which  one  descends  to  the  vaulted 
chamber  of  brick  below,  and  also  a  small  tower  projecting 
above  the  northern  elevation.  The  bricks  which  were  used  in 
the  construction  of  the  edifice  are  nearly  a  foot  square,2  while 
the  walls  themselves  are  four  or  five  feet  thick  and  convey  the 
impression  that  the  vaulted  chamber  and  its  arched  recesses 
once  served  as  a  place  for  preserving  a  precious  treasure.3  The 
natives  call  the  building  the  hamdm,  4bath';  4  but  its  true  iden- 
tification, as  a  great  fire-temple  of  most  ancient  date,  was  first 
made  clear  by  Rawlinson,  as  will  be  explained  hereafter. 

The  other  remains  of  buildings  within  the  citadel  of  Takht-i 

1 1  have  since  found  my  observations  2  Resembling  the  bricks  I  afterward 
borne  out  by  Rawlinson  (JEGS.  10.  saw  at  the  Fire-Temple  near  Isfahan 
51,  66),  who  cites  a  statement  of  Mus-  and  also  in  the  walls  of  Rei;  cf.  pp. 
taufi  to  show  that  the  Mongol  king  253,  255,  435,  below. 
Abaka  Khan  (d.  1282),  son  of  Hulagu  3  Rawlinson,  JEGS.  10.  51,  de- 
Khan,  restored  this  edifice.  Compare  scribes  the  walls  as  fifteen  feet  thick, 
also  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  162.  and  he  adds  some  details  regarding 
The  site  of  the  structures,  however,  the  condition  of  the  dome  and  the  cen- 
was  probably  occupied  originally  by  tral  chamber  when  he  saw  it ;  his 
much  older  buildings,  perhaps  the  an-  description  should  be  consulted, 
cient  palace  of  the  Keianian,  Arsa-  4  So  also  Ker  Porter  was  informed ; 
cian,  and  Sasanian  kings.  see  his  Travels,  2.  560. 


128      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,  AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 


Suleiman  are  a  group  to  the  extreme  north,  which  the  natives 
call  the  4  bazaar,'  and  two  others  near  the  rampart  on  the  south- 
ern and  southwestern  side.  One  of  these  latter  the  guide 
called  the  'market';  the  other,  somewhat  to  the  southwest, 
which  still  has  a  towerlike  shaft  of  its  wall  standing,  he  termed 
the  'kitchen.'  But  neither  of  these  structures  gave  me  the 
impression  of  being  very  old,  although  it  was  difficult  to 
examine  them  because  of  the  depth  of  the  snow.1 


RAWLINSON'S  PLAN  OP  TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  enclosure  of 
Takht-i  Suleiman  is  natural  and  not  the  work  of  human  hands. 
It  is  a  deep  pond,  some  three  hundred  yards  in  circumference, 
situated  south  of  the  central  part  of  the  Takht  and  plainly 
owing  its  existence  to  some  action  of  a  volcanic  character.  The 
depth  of  this  reservoir  is  evidently  great,  for  its  rich  emerald 
hue  shades  into  an  azure  that  resembles  the  color  of  the  deep 
sea.2  The  water  is  exquisitely  clear,  but  somewhat  saline  or 


1  For  some  description  of  them  see 
Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  660,  and  Raw- 
linson,  JUGS.  10.  51. 


2  Rawlinson,  JEGS.  10.   50,  gives 
the  depth  as  twenty-six  fathoms. 


THE  POND   AND    THE   GATEWAY 


129 


calcareous  to  the  taste,  and  it  possesses  a  peculiar  petrifying 
quality,  imparted  to  it  by  the  strong  impregnation  of  calcium, 
so  that  its  banks  are  encircled  by  a  stony  rim  formed  by  the 
incrustation  from  the  water  wherever  it  overflows.  In  the 
plain  a  serpentine  dike,  called  Azh  Dahak  by  the  natives,  after 
the  name  of  the  mythical  dragon,  has  also  been  built  up 
by  the  deposit  left  as  the  stream  flows  down  in  a  sinuous 
course  from  the  height.  When  I  saw  the  lake,  the  chief  outlet 
seemed  to  be  over  the  road  leading  out  of  the  southeastern 
gateway,  and  the  water  was  pouring  through  this  in  large 
quantities.  Despite  the  outflow,  which  is  constant,  the  volume 
of  water,  like  the  Avestan  stream  of  Ardvi  Sura,  appears  never 
to  diminish,  being  constantly  replenished  from  some  unknown 
source.1 

The  great  gateway  at  this  point  of  the  battlements  is  in  an 
excellent  state  of  preservation,  and  I  even  saw,  if  my  memory 
serve  me,  the  masons'  signs  marked  on  the  bastions  to  the  right 
and  left  of  it,  such  as  I  saw  on  the  wall  of  the  terrace  built  by 
Cyrus  near  Murghab.  The  height  of  the  rampart  is  here  no 
less  than  forty  feet,  and  its  structure  gives  a  good  idea  of  the 
masonry  of  the  rest  of  the  wall.  The  large  oblong  blocks 
of  which  it  is  composed  measure  more  than  two  and  a  half  feet 
by  one  and  a  half,  and  are  laid  in  a  horizontal  line  with  narrow 
upright  stones  fitted  carefully  between  them,  somewhat  in  this 
fashion.2  I  did  not  see  elsewhere  in  Persia,  either  at  Kangavar, 


Murghab,  or  Persepolis,  stones  so  peculiarly  set,  although  in 
the  latter  cases  the  blocks  were  more  massive  than  those  of 
Takht-i  Suleiman. 


1 1  have  since  found  that  Rawlinson 
(JRGS.  10. 48)  conjectures  that  the  pond 
is  connected  by  an  underground  syphon 
with  some  obscure  mountain  source. 


2  My  notes  may  be  supplemented 
by  Rawlinson  {op.  cit.  p.  47),  who 
also  refers  to  the  extreme  nicety  with 
which  the  stones  are  fitted. 


130      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,   AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 

Wishing  to  have  a  full  view  of  the  Takht  from  the  eastern 
side  as  well,  I  walked  along  the  citadel  height,  through  the  deep 
snow,  to  a  point  about  the  middle  of  the  rampart,  facing  the 
rising  sun.  The  descent  from  the  battlement  was  here  ex- 
tremely steep,  but  with  the  aid  of  my  guides  I  found  a  place 
by  one  of  the  bastions  where  the  snow  was  drifted  almost  to 
the  level  of  the  wall,  and,  as  the  crust  was  hard,  I  slid  down  and 
tramped  off  to  a  considerable  distance  in  the  direction  of  the 
eastern  hills,  so  as  to  view  the  Takht  in  its  full  extent,  includ- 
ing the  northern  end.  The  light  at  the  time  was  unfavorable 
for  photographing,  so  that  two  of  my  pictures  failed ;  but  the 
third,  which  takes  in  a  part  of  the  middle  section,  especially 
the  domed  roof  of  the  famous  fire-temple,  came  out  fairly  well, 
and,  when  supplemented  by  my  rough  sketch  of  the  side  eleva- 
tion, will  convey  some  idea  at  least  of  Takht-i  Suleiman  as  I 
saw  it.  The  noble  contour  of  the  walls  was  clear  to  me,  but 
the  impression  which  I  received  from  this  side  of  the  Takht,  as 
from  the  others,  was  not  favorable  to  the  theory  of  identifying 
it  with  Herodotus'  description  of  the  walls  of  Ecbatana. 

Up  to  this  point  I  have  given  my  own  observations  and 
memoranda  without  alluding  to  any  historic  accounts  of 
Takht-i  Suleiman  and  without  any  detailed  references  in 
the  text  to  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson's  claim  that  Takht-i  Suleiman 
represents  the  Atropatenian  Ecbatana  and  the  site  of  the 
ancient  capital  of  northern  Media.1  Although  I  knew  in  a 
general  way  of  his  theory,  I  purposely  refrained  from  reading 
his  monograph  until  I  had  studied  the  locality  myself  and  had 
also  visited  Hamadan.  In  fact,  I  wrote  out  my  notes  for  this 
chapter  when  on  the  steamer  returning  to  America,  and  did 
not  consult  the  famous  essay  until  I  reached  home.  Nor  did  I 
see  Canon  George  Rawlinson's  arguments,  summing  up  his 
brother's  treatise,  until  I  had  visited  Hamadan  and  had 
already  formed  my  own  judgment  in  favor  of  the  traditional 

1  Rawlinson,  Notes  on  a  Journey  to  the  Atropatenian  Ecbatana,  in  JUGS. 
Takhti-Soleiman  and  on  the  Site  of  10.  1-158,  London,  1841. 


IDENTIFICATION   OF   THE  RUINS  131 

view  that  Hamadan,  and  not  Takht-i  Suleiman,  really  occupies 
the  site  of  ancient  Ecbatana.1  Although  I  do  not  accept  Sir 
Henry's  view  that  the  Takht  is  the  site  of  Ecbatana  (and  I  am 
not  alone  in  my  dissent),2  I  fully  accept  his  unquestionable 
identification  of  Takht-i  Suleiman  with  the  Shiz  of  the  Arab 
writers,  and  probably  also  with  the  Gazna  and  Ganzah  of  the 
Persians,  the  Gazaka  or  Canzaca  of  the  classical  writers  and,  I 
may  now  add,  the  Ganjak  of  the  Pahlavi  texts.3 

In  dealing  with  the  subject,  I  shall  first  present  the  grounds 
for  Rawlinson's  identification  of  the  ruins  with  the  ancient  Shiz 
and  the  fire-temple  of  Adhargushnasp.  Afterward  I  shall 
touch  on  their  probable  identity  with  Gazna,  Ganzaca,  Gan- 
jak, etc.,  as  Rawlinson  believed.  Some  of  the  citations  which 
he  uses  to  prove  his  point  will  be  found  also  in  my  book  on 
Zoroaster,  where  I  had  independently  given  them  for  another 
purpose;  but  I  reproduce  the  more  important  of  them  here 
because  of  their  value  in  this  connection  and  because  they  give 
an  excellent  idea  of  Takht-i  Suleiman.4 

The  first  statement  which  I  cite,  and  which  was  used  also  by 
Rawlinson,  is  taken  from  an  account  of  the  stronghold  written 
by  Yakut  (about  A.D.  1220).  Yakut  speaks  of  Shiz  as  located 
among  mountains  that  abound  in  ore  and  mineral  wealth, 
and  describes  the  lake,  whose  petrifying  qualities  I  have 
mentioned,  and  speaks  of  the  buildings,  especially  the  an- 
cient fire-temple,  within  the  circuit  of  the  city's  walls.  Yakut's 
account  reads  as  follows  :  — 

1  See  George  Rawlinson,  Five  Great  the  city,  and  the  same  is  true  of  Gazn, 
Monarchies,  3.  24-28,  London,  1865.  Jazn,  Ganjah,  Ganzah  (Lat.  Canzaca 

2  George   Rawlinson   mentions    the  or  Ganzaca},  which  is  generally  be- 
fact  that  his  brother's  view  was  com-  lieved  to  be  another  designation  for 
batted  by  Quatremere  in  the  Memoires  the  same  place. 

deV  Academic  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles          4  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.    195,  197, 

Lettres,  19.  419  seq.  201,  202,  204  ;  and  compare  Gottheil, 

3  The  name  Shiz,  as  stated   above  References    to    Zoroaster,   in    Classi- 
(p.  73),  is  derived  through  an  Arabic  cal  Studies  in  Honour  of  Henry  Dris- 
corruption  of  Clz  from  Caefasta,  the  ler,  pp.    40-45.       Most  important  is 
Avestan  name  of  Lake  Urumiah.   This  the  monograph  by  Rawlinson,  JRGS. 
title  designates  the  district  as  well  as  10.  65-158. 


132      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,  AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 

*  Shiz,  a  district  of  Azarbaijan.  Its  name  is  a  form  of  Chis,1 
out  of  which  the  Arabs  have  made  Shiz.  It  is  said  that  Zaradusht, 
the  prophet  of  the  Fire- Worshippers,  came  from  there.  The  chief 
place  of  the  district  is  Urumiah.  .  .  .  Here  is  what  Mis'ar  ibn 
Muhalhal  (A.H.  330  =  A.D.  940)  says  about  Shiz :  "...  This  town  is 
situated  between  Maraghah,  Zanjan,  Shahrzur,  and  Dinavar,  in  the 
midst  of  mountains  containing  mines  of  gold,  quicksilver,  lead,  silver, 
orpiment,  and  amethysts.  ...  A  wall  encloses  the  city,  and  within 
its  circuit  is  a  pool  whose  bottom  cannot  be  sounded.  I  dropped  a 
line  in  it  more  than  fourteen  thousand  cubits,  but  the  lead  did  not 
find  any  resting-place  and  remain  steady.2  The  area  of  the  lake  is 
about  one  quarter  of  an  acre.  Earth  soaked  with  water  from  it  im- 
mediately becomes  hard  stone.  Seven  streams  of  water  flow  from  the 
lake,  each  of  which  turns  a  mill  before  flowing  out  under  the  wall. 
At  Shiz  there  is  also  a  large  fire-temple,  which  is  held  in  great 
veneration.  From  it  are  lighted  the  fires  of  the  Magians  from  the 
east  to  the  west.  On  the  top  of  the  dome  there  is  a  silver  crescent 
which  is  a  talisman.  Many  rulers 3  have  tried  to  remove  it,  but  have 
not  succeeded.  One  of  the  extraordinary  things  connected  with  the 
temple  is,  that  a  fire  has  been  kept  burning  in  it  for  seven  hundred 
years  without  any  ashes  having  been  found ; 4  nor  has  the  fire  gone 
out  for  a  single  hour.  Hurmuz  ibn  Khusrushir  ibn  Bahrain  built  the 
city  of  plaster  (Ms)  and  stone.  Near  ('ind)  the  fire-temple  stand 
lofty  palaces  and  large  and  magnificent  buildings.  Whenever  an 
enemy  advances  to  take  the  city  and  plants  his  ballista  against  its 
walls,  the  stone  from  the  machines  falls  into  the  pool  which  we  have 
mentioned ;  and  if  he  move  the  ballista  back  [from  the  wall],  even 
as  far  as  one  cubit,  the  stone  falls  outside  the  wall.  .  .  . " 5  So 
far  Abu  Dulaf  Mis'ar  ibn  Muhalhal,  the  poet ;  but  I  cannot  vouch 

1  Variant  readings  are  Jls,  <7Ts,  //Is,  3  Lit.   Amirs  ;    Kazvini   has   *  con- 
and  .Tins.     In  reality  Shiz  is  a  corrup-      querors.' 

tion  of  Ct2,  Avestan  Caetasta  ;  see  p.  4  This  is  evidently  the  '  imposture 

73,  above,  and  my  Zoroaster,  p.  197.  of  the  coals'  (irXdvy  &v0pdicwv)  alluded 

2  This  extravagant  number  in  the  to  by  the  Church    Father    Georgius 
Arabic  text  is  reduced  in  the  Persian  Cedrenus  ;  see  p.  141  below, 
version  to  4000,  which  in  itself  is  ex-  6  I  omit  here  a  legend  which  recounts 
aggerated    enough.      See    Rawlinson,  how  the  city  was  built  by  Hurmuz  on 
JUGS.  10.  68,  n.  4  ;   Barbier  de  Mey-  the  spot  where  a  fire  had  appeared  at 
nard,  Diet.  geog.  p.  368,  n.  1.     The  the  grave  of  a  messenger  whom  he  had 
true  depth  is  not  more  than  156  feet,  sent  to  worship  Christ  and  who  had 
as  given  by  Rawlinson,  op.  cit.  p.  50.  died  on  his  return. 


THE  RUINED  FIRE-TEMPLE  AT  TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,  BURIED  IN  THE  SNOW 


TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN  FROM  THE  EAST 
(After  a  sketch  by  the  author) 


YAKUT'S  DESCRIPTION  133 

for  the  truth  of  his  statement,  for  things  are  told  on  his  authority 
which  are  inaccurate  and  untrue.  I  have  incorporated  it  here  as  I 
found  it ;  but  Allah  knows  best.  Some  one  else  has  related  that  in 
Shiz  there  is  the  fire  of  Adharakhsh,  a  temple  honored  of  the  Magians.1 
It  was  customary  for  their  kings,  when  they  ascended  the  throne,  to 
make  a  pilgrimage  thither  on  foot.  The  people  of  Maraghah  and  of 
this  neighborhood  call  this  place  Gazna;  but  Allah  knows  best.'2 

Yakut  has  furthermore  a  separate  short  article  on  G-azn 
(Kazri)  and  its  fire-temple,  which,  if  taken  in  connection  with  his 
previous  assertion  that  G-azn,  Gaznd  (^GaznaJi)  is  the  Persian 
form  and  Shiz  the  Arabic  form,  shows  that  he  regards  the  two 
places  as  one,  and  their  identity  is  generally  accepted.3  Thus, 
in  his  brief  note  on  Gaznd,  lie  says  :  — 

'  Gazna  is  a  small  town  about  six  farsakhs  from  Maraghah.  In 
it  there  is  a  place  of  worship  of  the  Magians  and  an  old  fire-temple, 
and  also  a  great  and  very  old  palace  built  by  Kei  Khosru.' 4 

And  again,  in  his  statement  under  Jaznak,  Yakut  says  :  — 

'  Jaznak  is  a  small  but  very  flourishing  town  in  the  vicinity  of 
Maraghah,  and  one  may  see  there  the  ruins  of  edifices  erected  by 
the  ancient  kings  of  Persia,  and  also  a  temple  of  fire/ 5 

The  Persian  geographer  Kazvini  (about  A.D.  1263)  repeats 
almost  word  for  word  the  same  statement  regarding  the  lake, 
the  walls,  and  the  fire-temple  at  Shiz,  and  adds  that  Zoroaster 
came  from  this  city  of  Azarbaijan. 

1  Spelled  Adhrkhsh,  without  vocali-  Studies  in  Honour  of  Henry  Drisler, 
zation,  but  vocalized  as  Adhar-khush,  p.  42,  cited  in  my  Zoroaster,  p.  200. 
('good  fire')  in  the  edition  of  Masudi,  For   aid    in    translating    the    passage 
Kitab  at-Tanbih,  ed.  De  Goeje,  in  Bib-  from  the  Arabic,  I  am  indebted  to  iny 
liotheca   Geographorum   Arabicorum,  friend  and  former  pupil,  Dr.  William 
8.   95.      For   other    readings    of    the  Popper. 

name  (all  of  which  are  evident  corrup-  8  See  especially  Noldeke,  Geschichte 

tions  of  Adhar-gus[nasp]),    see  Raw-  der  Perser  und  Araber,  p.  100,  n.  1, 

linson,  JUGS.  10.  104.  accepting  Rawlinson's  view,  which  is 

2  See  Yakut,  ed.  Wustenfeld,  3.  354,  maintained  also  by  Marquart,  Erdn- 
and   the    translation    by  Barbier    de  §ahr,  p.  108,  and  others. 

Meynard,    Diet.    geog.    p.    367   seq. ;  *  Yakut,  p.  488 ;  cf.  also  Gottheil, 

also  the  version  by  Gottheil,   Refer-      References  to  Zoroaster,  p.  44. 
ences     to     Zoroaster,     in      Classical  6  Yakut,  p.  161. 


134      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,  AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 

1  Zaradusht,  the  prophet  of  the  Magians,  takes  his  origin  from 
there  (i.e.  Azarbaijan).  It  is  said  that  he  caine  from  Shiz.  He 
went  to  the  mountain  Sabalan,  living  apart  from  men.  He  brought 
forth  a  book  the  name  of  which  was  Basta  (i.e.  Avesta).'1 

Still  earlier  Arab  and  Persian  writers  mention  Shiz  and  its 
renowned  fire-temple,  as  I  have  shown  in  my  Zoroaster  (p.  198), 
to  which  work  I  may  refer,  and  I  therefore  give  only  the  main 
points  here.  Thus  Ibn  Khordadhbah,  who  wrote  about  A.D. 
816,  and  whose  father  is  said  to  have  been  a  Magian,  enumer- 
ates the  important  cities  of  Azarbaijan  and  includes  :  — 

'  Janzah  (i.e.  Ganjah),  the  city  of  Abarwiz  (i.e.  Parviz),  Jabra- 
wan,  Nariz,  Urmiah,  the  city  of  Zaradusht,  Salinas,  and  Shiz, 
in  which  there  is  a  fire-temple  Adharjushnas[f],  which  was  vener- 
ated by  the  Magians ;  and  it  was  customary  when  one  of  their  mon- 
archs  ascended  the  throne,  for  him  to  make  a  pilgrimage  [thither] 
on  foot  from  Madain  (i.e.  the  Sasanian  capital  Ctesiphon).' 2 

Al-Hamadhani  (about  A.D.  910)  repeats  the  same  statement 
elsewhere  :  — 

1 J  a  n  j  a  h,  Jabrawan,  and  Urumiah,  the  city  of  Zaradusht,  and 
Shiz,  in  which  there  is  the  fire-temple  of  Adharjush- 
n  a  s  [f  ],  which  is  held  in  high  veneration  by  the  Magiaus.' 3 

In  still  another  passage  the  same  author  says  that  the  fire 
of  Adhargushnasp  belonging  to  Kei  Khosru  (and  originally 
located  elsewhere  in  Azarbaijan)  was  removed  to  Shiz. 

'  Adharjushnasf,  the  fire  of  Kei  Khosru,  was  in  Adharbaijan;  but 
Anushirvan  removed  it  to  Shiz.' 4 

Masudi  (died  A.D.  951),  in  his  account  of  the  various  fire- 
temples,  in  Meadows  of  Gold,  chapter  68,  says  :  — 

1  See  Gottheil,  References  to  Zoro-      between  Ganjah  and  Shiz,  as  will  be 
aster,   pp.    40,   42,    n.    2 ;  Rawlinson,       noted  below,  p.  136. 

JRGS.    10.  68 ;    and   my   Zoroaster,  8  Al-Hamadhani,  Kitdb  al-Buldan, 

p.  201.  ed.    De  Goeje,  Bibl.    Geog.  Arab.  5. 

2  See    Ibn    Khordadhbah,    ed.    De  286  ;  see  also  my  Zoroaster,  p.  198. 
Goeje,  Bibl.  Geog.  Arab.  6.  119 ;  and  *  Al-Hamadhani,  p.  246 ;   see  also 
transl.    p.  91.      It  is  to  be  observed  Gottheil,     References    to    Zoroaster, 
that  Ibn  Khordadhbah  distinguished  p.  45. 


A   FAMOUS  FIRE-TEMPLE  135 

'A  fourth  fire-temple  is  found  in  the  country  of  Shiz  and  Arran; 
it  was  originally  consecrated  to  those  idols  which  Anushirvan  de- 
stroyed. Others  say  that  Anushirvan,  having  found  in  this  temple 
an  altar  on  which  the  sacred  fire  was  burning,  transported  it  to  a 
place  called  al-Birkah  ("the  basin,"  near  Shiraz).  The  [ancient 
Keianian]  king  Kei  Khosru  built  a  temple  which  was  known  under 
the  name  of  Kusujah'  * 

The  still  earlier  writer,  Asmai  (died  A.D.  831),  a  scholar 
at  the  court  of  Harun  al-Rashid,  mentions  Shiz  and  its  fire- 
temple  in  his  account  of  the  campaign  of  the  Sasanian  king 
Khosru  Parviz  against  the  Byzantine  emperor  Heraclius 
(623-627). 

1  The  king  [Khosru]  went  on  till  he  arrived  at  the  city  of  Shiz, 
where  there  is  a  very  great  fire-temple  which  remains  to  this  day. 
Khosru  remained  constantly  at  prayer  in  this  temple,  while  he 
ordered  his  army  to  form  an  entrenched  camp ;  and  he  abode  for  a 
month  at  Shiz  to  refresh  himself  and  his  troops,  and  employed  him- 
self in  collecting  provisions  and  establishing  bazaars.'2 

Tabari,  the  historian  (840-923),  speaks  of  the  rich  gifts 
made  to  the  fire-temple  (of "  Adhargushnasp)  at  Shiz  in  Azar- 
baijan  by  the  Sasanian  king  Bahrain  Gor,  after  his  victory  over 
the  Turkmans,  about  A.D.  420. 

'  Bahram's  route,  on  returning  from  that  campaign,  lay  through 
Azarbaijan.  Accordingly  he  sent  to  the  fire-temple  in  Shiz  the 
rubies  and  other  jewels  which  were  in  the  crown  of  the  [vanquished] 
Khakan,  and  also  his  own  sword,  inlaid  with  pearls  and  jewels,  as 
well  as  many  other  ornaments.  The  Khatun,  or  wife  of  the  Khakan, 
he  made  an  attendant  in  the  temple.' 3 

The  native  Persian  lexicon,  Farhang-i  Anjuman-i  Ardi  Nasarl^ 
a  modern  but  valuable  compilation,  cites  an  older  work  which 

1  See  Masudi,  Les  Prairies  d'Or,  10. 76,  from  whom  the  passage  is  quoted, 
tr.  Barbier  de  Meynard,  4.  74,  Paris,  3  Tabari,    translated    in    Noldeke, 
1865.     The  name  Kusujah  is  evidently  Gesch.   der  Perser  und  Araber,   pp. 
a  scribal  error  for   Ganzah.     Shiz  is  100,  102,  104  ;  also  Rawlinson,  JRGS. 
mentioned  by  Masudi  also  at  2.  235.  10.    77,  and  compare  Justi,    Grundr. 

2  Asma'i,  cited  by  Rawlinson,  JUGS.  iran.   Philol.  2.  527. 


136      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,   AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 

likewise  speaks  of  the  fire  of  Adhargushnasp  at  Shiz  and  the 
association  of  Zoroaster's  name  with  the  place.     Thus  :  — 

'  The  author  of  the  Haft  Ikllm  says  that  Shiz  is  the  name  of  a 
city  between  Maraghah  and  Zangan,  and  there  was  a  great  fire-temple 
there,  called  Adharjus[nasf],  which  was  held  in  great  esteem  by 
the  Persian  kings,  who  used  to  come  to  the  mountain  on  foot.  The 
origin  (asl)  of  Zaradusht  was  from  there,  and  he  went  to  the  moun- 
tain Sabalan  and  composed  there  the  book  Abasta  and  brought  it 
to  King  Gushtasp.' l 

Taking  all  these  quotations  together,  especially  Yakut's 
statement  about  the  mountains  that  contain  ore,  the  lake  whose 
waters  produce  petrifaction,  and  the  famous  temple  of  fire,  it  is 
clear  that  Takht-i  Suleiman,  or  '  Solomon's  Throne,'  is  actually 
the  site  of  the  ancient  city  of  Shiz,  and  that  when  standing  on 
its  terrace  we  have  the  ruins  of  the  historic  pyrseum  of  Adhar- 
gushnasp before  us.  We  may  therefore  accept  Rawlinson's 
identification  of  the  site  of  the  so-called  '  Throne  of  Solomon ' 
(Takht-i  Suleiman)  as  complete  and  convincing,  just  as  we  now 
know  that  the  ruins  in  Southern  Persia  which  the  natives  call 
'Throne  of  Jamshid '  (Takht-i  Jamshld)  are  really  the  historic 
Persepolis  of  the  Achsemenians. 

I  shall  now  turn  to  the  second  part  of  the  discussion,  the 
arguments  of  the  same  scholar  to  show  that  the  city  referred  to 
in  the  classics  as  Gazaka  or  Ganzaca,  and  in  Armenian  as 
Gandzag,  is  likewise  identical  with  Shiz  and  consequently  with 
the  present  Takht-i  Suleiman.  We  have  already  seen  that 
Yakut  regarded  G-azn  and  Shiz  as  identical  places,  even  if  the 
earlier  Ibn  Khordadhbah  differentiated  them.2  To  prove  the 
correctness  of  the  identification,  Rawlinson  makes  use  of  data 
connected  with  the  campaign  of  Khosru  Parviz  against  Bahram 

1  This  new  allusion,    which  I  add  2  See  quotation  from  Ibn  Khordadh- 

to  Rawlinson's  material,  has  recently  bah  given  on  p.  134,  above,  and  com- 

been  made  accessible  by  Von  Stack-  pare  also    the    remarks  by  Noldeke, 

elberg,   Persische  Sagengeschichte,  in  Geschichte    der    Perser    und  Araber, 

WZKM.  12.  233.  p.  100,  n.   1. 


ANCIENT  GAZN  AND   SHIZ  137 

Chobin  (A.D.  589),  and  the  wars  of  the  Byzantine  emperor 
Heraclius  against  Khosru  (A.D.  624),  and  draws  deductions 
also  from  the  movements  of  Mark  Antony  against  the  Parthians 
six  centuries  earlier.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  reproduce  Raw- 
linson's  arguments  in  detail,  but  shall  simply  state  that  most 
scholars  accept  his  identification,  together  with  the  view  that 
the  ruins  represent  the  site  of  what  was  also  called  Phraaspa, 
and  the  fortress  of  Vera  in  Media.1  It  may  be  taken  as  prac- 
tically certain  that  if  Ganzaca  and  Shiz  in  antiquity  were  riot 
absolutely  one  and  the  same  city,  the  former  cannot  have  been 
located  far  distant  from  the  latter,  and  we  may  perhaps  distin- 
guish between  the  city  in  the  plain  and  the  fortress  on  the 
height,  following  the  statement  quoted  by  Rawlinson  from 
Strabo,  who  says,  '  The  summer  residence  of  the  kings  is  at 
Gazaca,  situated  in  a  plain  and  in  a  strong  fort  named  Vera, 
which  was  besieged  by  Mark  Antony  in  his  expedition  against 
the  Parthians.'2  As  a  matter  of  conjecture,  in  that  event,  I 
might  refer  to  the  modern  place  named  Ganjabad,  a  short  dis- 
tance to  the  northeast  of  Takht-i  Suleiman  (about  lat.  37°  15', 
long.  47°  45')  — see  the  map  at  the  end  of  this  volume — or  to 
a  place  marked  Ganja  between  Sanjud  and  Tikantapah  on  the 
map  in  Curzon's  Persia? 

By  way  of  supplement,  however,  to  Rawlinson's  monograph, 
I  present  one  or  two  new  matters  of  evidence  on  the  subject  of 
Ganzak,  Shiz,  and  the  fire-temple  Adhargushnasp.  The  testi- 
mony is  in  the  form  of  Zoroastrian  traditions,  relating  espe- 
cially to  the  earlier  king  Kei  Khosru  (Av.  Kavi  Haosravali), 
who  is  supposed  to  have  lived  about  B.C.  800,  and  his  enemy, 
Afrasiab  the  Turanian  (Av.  Tuirya  Frahrasyari). 

1  Rawlinson,    JUGS.    10.    71-111,  read   '  and  [the  winter  palace]  is  in 
113-115 ;     Noldeke,     Geschichte     der  a  strong  fort,'   contrasting    the  resi- 
Perser     und   Araber,    p.    100,   n.  1 ;  dences  according  to  the  seasons,  but 
Marquart,     Eransahr,  p.  108;  Justi,  this  is  less  good. 

Grundr.  iran.  Philol.  2.  527,  542,  544 ;  3  Streck,  Zt.  f.  Assyr.  15.  332,  com- 

Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.  1.  155,  n.  12.  pares  Ganzaka  or  Gazaka  with  G-izin- 

2  Strabo,  Geog.  11.  13.  3  ;  cf.  Raw-  (fikissi  and  notices  the  forms  of  the 
linson,  JUG 8.  10.  113.    Some  critics  name  Jiz,  Shiz. 


138      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,  AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 

A  Pahlavi  treatise  written  early  in  the  ninth  century  A.D. 
and  entitled  Shatrolhd-l  Alrdn,  from  the  account  which  it  gives 
of  the  cities  of  Iran,  says  that  the  town  of  4  Ganjak '  or  4  Gan- 
zak '  in  Azarbaijan  was  founded  by  Afrasiab  of  Turan. 

Trasiak  of  Tur  (Afrasiab)  founded  the  town  of  Ganjak  in  the 
region  of  Ataropatakan  (Azarbaijan).' l 

There  is  further  evidence  to  associate  Afrasiab,  for  a  time  at 
least,  with  this  region,  since  Firdausi  narrates  that  after  his 
defeat  in  Turan  by  Kei  Khosru,  Afrasiab  fled  to  Azarbaijan  and 
took  refuge  in  a  cave  on  a  high  mountain  near  Bardah,  a  place 
located  east  or  northeast  of  Lake  Urumiah,  somewhere  between 
Ardabil  and  Maraghah,  and  frequently  mentioned  by  the 
mediaeval  Persian  and  Arabic  writers,  including  Yakut,  who 
says  it  is  'nine  farsakhs  from  Ganjah.'2  The  fugitive,  accord- 
ing to  the  legend,  was  discovered  by  a  hermit,  whom  Firdausi 
calls  Horn  (and  the  Avesta  calls  Haoma),  and  then  sought  to 
escape  into  the  waters  of  Lake  Urumiah  (miswritten  in  the 
manuscripts  of  the  Shah  Namah  as  Khanjast  for  Chechast,  Av. 
Chaechasta)  .3  Afrasiab's  place  of  concealment,  however,  was 
revealed,  and  he  was  captured  and  slain  by  Kei  Khosru,  who 
thereupon  proceeded  to  the  fire-temple  Adhargushnasp,  to 
give  thanks  for  his  success.4 

Somewhat  earlier   in  his   narrative  Firdausi   had   given  an 

1  See  Jamaspji  Minocheherji,  Pah-  above,  and  cf.  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2. 
lavi  Texts  1,  Shatrolha,  58,  Bombay,  495-496  ;  Rawlinson,  JRGS.   10.  45 ; 
1897,   and  the  translation    of    Modi,  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  pp.  73-74. 
Shatrolhd-l  Alrdn,  p.   117,   Bombay,  8  See  the  earlier  form  of  the  legend  in 
1899;  also  Blochet,  Villes  de  Vlran,  the  Avesta,  Ys.  11.  7,  and  for  the  strug- 
in   Eecueil    de     Travaux    relatifs    a  gle    between    Franrasyan    (Afrasiab) 
la  Philologie,  17.  176,  Paris,  1895.     It  and  Haosrava  (Kei  Khosru),  seconded 
is    possible   also   in   MKh.   27.   44  to  by    Haoma,    compare    Yt.  9.    17-23 ; 
read  instead  of  Dujako,  in  the  Pahlavi  17.    37-43.     See  also  next  page  and 
characters,    Ganjako    (i.e.   Canzaca),  note  that    there  is  a   'cave'   at   the 
but  it  would  not  give  so  good  an  inter-  ruined  city  of  Shahr-i  Afrasiab  near 
pretation  of  that  particular  passage;  Samarkand. 

see  West,  SEE.  24.  62,  n.  2.  *  See    Shah    Namah,   ed.   Vullers- 

2  Yakut,   p.  92.     For  the  caves  in      Landauer,  3.  1386-1398 ;   tr.  Mohl,  4. 
the  vicinity  of  Maraghah,  see  p.  104,       155-169. 


AFRASIAB   AND   KEI  KHOSRU  139 

account  of  the  founding,  by  Kei  Khosru,  of  the  fire-temple  of 
Adhargushnasp,  which  he  locates  in  the  '  Castle  of  Bahman ' 
(Dizh-i  Bahman).  The  context  would  imply  that  this  was  on 
the  4  frontier '  of  Ardabil, l  where  it  is  located  also  by  Yakut,2 
but  Rawlinson  urges  that  the  description  answers  to  Takht-i 
Suleiman.3  The  lines  about  the  founding  of  the  pyrseum 
after  the  castle  was  stormed  run  as  follows  :  — 

'  Within  the  vast  rampart  the  king  found  a  city  with  gardens, 
public  squares,  mansions,  and  a  palace.  At  the  spot  where  the  light 
had  flashed  out  and  the  darkness  had  been  utterly  dispelled,  Khosru 
gave  orders  that  a  domed  temple  should  be  erected  to  a  height 
towering  to  the  sky.  It  was  ten  noose-lengths  square  and  was 
surrounded  by  high  vaulted  chambers,  covering  a  circuit  of  half  a 
horse-course.  There  he  brought  and  installed  the  fire  Adhargush- 
[n]asp,  around  which  sat  Mobeds,  astrologers,  and  wise  men.' 4 

In  keeping  with  Firdausi's  account  of  Afrasiab's  tempo- 
rary escape  from  Horn  and  Kei  Khosru  by  concealing  himself 
in  Lake  Urumiah,  and  in  harmony  also  with  the  Avesta,  which 
locates  the  struggle  of  Afrasiab  and  Kavi  Haosravah  '  behind  (or 
in  the  sight  of)  Lake  Chaechasta  (Urumiah),'  we  have  still 
other  Zoroastrian  traditions  preserved  in  the  Pahlavi  writings. 
These  books  associate  the  name  of  Kei  Khosru  with  the  fire  of 
the  warriors,  Adhargushnasp,  and  locate  this  pyrseum  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Lake  Urumiah  or  on  Mount  Asnavand.5  Thus 

1  Pers.    to,  dar-i  Ardabil  ba-marzl          4   Shah  Namah,    ed.   Vullers-Lan- 
kih  anja  Dizh-i  Bahman  ast,  see  Shah  dauer,   2.    761  ;   tr.    Mohl,    Livre  des 
Namah,  ed.  Vullers-Landauer,  2.  756,  Hois,  2.  441 ;   and  Pizzi,  II  Libro  del 
and  compare  tr.  Mohl,  Livre  des  Hois,  JRe,  3.  78. 

2.  435,  '  a  Ardebil . .  .  sur  la  frontiere ' ;  6  See  my  Zoroaster,   pp.   100,  48 ; 
compare  also  Pizzi,  II  Libro  dei  Be,  and  consult  also   p.    70,  n.  1,   above. 

3.  72,  'al  confin  d' Ardebil.'  On  the  Avestan    phrase  'behind  (or 

2  Yakut,  p.  125.     So  also  Sadik  Is-  in  the  sight   of)    Lake   Chaechasta,' 
fahani,   p.  14.  see  Bartholomae,  Air.  Wb.  s.v.  pasne 

3  Rawlinson  (JRGS.   10.  82,  n.  3)  (for  pasne).     Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.  2. 
was  mistaken  in  saying  that  Ardabil  is  631,  n.  92,  locates  the  scene  of  the 
not  mentioned  ;  it  occurs  in  the  text  conflict  to  the  north  or  northwest  of 
(Vullers-Landauer,  2.  756)  a  few  pages  Lake  Urumiah,   calling   attention   to 
before  the  fire-temple  is  described.  both  Lake  Sevan  and  Lake  Van  as 


140      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,   AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 

the    Pahlavi    Bahman     Yasht    (about    the    seventh    century 
A.D.)  states:  — 

'  The  fire  Ataro-gushnasp,  near  (or  by)  the  deep  Lake  Chechast, 
which  has  warm  water  that  drives  away  the  demons.'1 

Similar  is  the  statement  found  in  the  Selections  of  Zat- 
sparam  (about  A.D.  881):  — 

'  Two  fountains  of  the  sea  were  opened  out  for  the  earth  :  Che- 
chast,  a  lake  which  has  no  cold  wind  and  near  (or  on)  whose 
shore  rests  the  triumphant  fire  Gushnasp,  and  the  other,  Sovar 
(near  Tus).'2 

The  Bundahishn,  one  of  the  oldest  Pahlavi  works  extant, 
describes  how  the  fire  Ataro-gushnasp  aided  Kei  Khosru  when  he 
was  engaged  in  putting  down  idol-worship  about  Lake  Chechast, 
and  its  shrine  was  in  the  same  locality  near  Mount  Asnavand. 

1  When  Kai-Khusrob  was  engaged  in  extirpating  the  idol-temples 
of  Lake  Chechast,  it  (i.e.  the  fire  Ataro-gushnasp)  settled  upon  the 
mane  of  his  horse  and  drove  away  the  darkness  and  gloom,  and  made 

possibly  representing  Av.   Vairi  Hao-  four  parasangs  from  Lake  Urumiah  in- 

sravah  (Sir.   2.    9 ;   Yt.    19.    56 ;    Ny.  stead   of   fifty,  which   is  the  number 

5.  5)   in  contrast  to    Vairi  Caetasta  given  in  the  other  text. 
(Lake    Urumiah),   noticing    also    the  1  BYt.   3.    10.      The  Pahlavi  word 

village  of  Khosrova  near  Dilman,  to  which  I  have  rendered  *  near  (or  by)  ' 

which  I  have  referred  above,  p.  70,  is  pavan  (.pa),   which   West    renders 

n.  1.      See  also  West's  note  on  Bd.  'on,'    SEE.   5.   218.      For  the   Pah- 

22.  8,  in  SEE.  5.  86,  n.  7.     Spiegel,  lavi    text    see    Noshervan,     Pahlavi 

jZrdnische  Alterthumskunde,   1.  653-  Zand-i  Vohuman   Yasht,  p.  14,  1.  12 

654,  suggests  Lake  Sevanfor  VairiHao-  (=  p.  17, 1. 1,  translit.),  Bombay,  1900. 

sravah,  but  notices  also  that  Masudi  On  the  reading  garm,   'warm'-  (for 

(2.  131)  assigns  some  of  the  scenes  of  'medicinal,'    West,     SEE.    5.    218), 

the  Honi-Khosru-Af rasiab  conflict  to  consult  Rosenberg,  Livre  de  Zoroastre, 

the  town  of  Serav,   between  Ardabil  p.  74. 

and  Tabriz  (see  Yakut,  p.  306).      It  2  Zsp.    6.   22,   transl.  West,   SBE. 

would  be  tempting   to  regard   Vairi  5.  173.     Again  the  Pahlavi  for  'near 

Haosravah,  'Lake  of  Khosru,'  as  our  (or    on)   whose   shore'     has    munas 

present    lake    at    Takht-i    Suleiman  pavan  (pa)  bar,  see  text,  ed.  West, 

adjoining    Khosru's    fire-temple,    and  in  Avesta,   Pahlavi,  etc.,    Studies   hi 

Mount  Asnavand  (Sir.  2.   9,  etc.)  as  Honour    of  D.  P.  B.  Sanjana,    first 

Mount  Zindan;    the  Iranian   Bunda-  series,  p.  Ixxi,  Strassburg,  1904. 
hishn  locates  the  Lake  of  Khosru  at 


A   ROMAN  EMPEROR   DESTROYS   THE  SHRINE  141 

it  quite  light,  so  that  they  might  extirpate  the  idol-temples  ;  in  the 
same  locality  the  fire  Gushnasp  was  established  at  the  "  appointed 
place  "  (i.e.  shrine)  on  the  Asnavand  mountain.'  1 

The  location  of  Takht-i  Suleiman  is  some  ninety  miles 
distant  from  Lake  Urumiah  (Chechast),  it  is  true,  but  near 
enough,  perhaps,  to  answer  to  the  general  description  given 
in  the  Pahlavi  works,  when  compared  with  the  other  evidence 
in  the  case,  even  if  we  be  not  tempted  to  the  extent  of  conjec- 
turing that  the  lake  adjoining  Khosru's  ancient  fire,  Adhar- 
gushnasp,  in  the  Takht,  is  also  the  Lake  of  Khosru,  Vairi 
Haosravah,  referred  to  in  the  Avesta  and  Pahlavi  texts,  or 
go  so  far  as  to  surmise  that  the  extinct  volcano  of  Mount 
Zindan,  so  near  at  hand,  might  possibly  be  Mount  Asnavant 
(Asnavand)  ,  which  is  invoked  together  with  Chaechasta  in  the 
Zoroastrian  prayers.2 

I  shall  cite  a  single  other  passage  relating  to  Takht-i  Sulei- 
man, or  Ganzaca,  and  its  palace  and  fire-temple  ;  but  it  is  one 
of  special  interest  because  of  its  connection  both  with 
Zoroastrianism  and  ChristianhYy.3  Georgius  Cedrenus,  the 
Church  Father,  in  narrating  the  progress  of  the  war  of 
the  Byzantine  emperor  Heraclius  against  the  later  Sasa- 
nian  king  Khosru  Parviz,  or  Chosroes,  describes  how  Khosru 
had  his  own  image  enthroned  amid  emblems  of  the  celestial 
bodies  to  which  he  did  homage  —  a  sight  which  so  outraged 
the  Roman  emperor  and  his  Christian  soldiers  that  he  burned 
the  fire-temple  and  reduced  the  entire  city  to  ashes. 


7,  translated  by  West,  8  BE.  pies    for    idol-  worship    around    Lake 

5.  64.      Here  the  Pahlavi  text  reads  Chechast;  see  West,  8  BE.  24.  15. 

pavan  (pa}  Asnavand  kof  .  .  .  bard  2  See   Sir.    2.   9  ;  Ny.   5.    5.      The 

(be)  val  (6)  ddd-gah,  cf.  Justi,  Bunde-  sanctity,  not  the  size  of  the  lake,  would 

hesh,   p.   41,   Leipzig,    1868,  lithogr.  ;  entitle  it  to  consideration.      But  all 

Westergaard,  Bundehesh,   p.  41,  Co-  this  would  be  merely  an    attractive 

penhagen,   1851  ;  Unwalla,   The  Pah-  hypothesis  upon  which  a  theory  might 

lavi  Bundehesh,  p.  48,  Bombay,  1897.  be  built. 

The  Pahlavi  treatise  Mainog-i  Khirad,  *  Cited  by  Rawlinson,  JUGS.    10. 

2.  96,  also  alludes  to  the  achievement  52,  78. 
of  Kei  Khosru  in  exterminating  tern- 


142      TAKHT-I  SULEIMAN,  AN  ANCIENT  FORTIFIED    TOWN 

1  The  Emperor  Heraclius  took  possession  of  the  city  of  Gazaca,1 
in  which  was  the  temple  and  the  treasures  of  Croesus,  king  of  Lydia, 
and  the  imposture  of  the  burning  coals.2  On  entering  the  city  he 
found  the  abominable  image  of  Khosru,  an  effigy  of  the  king  seated 
under  the  vaulted  roof  of  the  palace3  as  though  in  the  heavens,  and 
around  it  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  to  which  he  did  homage  with 
superstitious  awe,  as  if  to  gods,  and  he  had  represented  angels  bear- 
ing sceptres  and  ministering  unto  him.4  And  the  impious  man  had 
arranged  by  cunning  devices  to  have  drops  falling  from  above,  like 
rain,  and  sounds  resembling  roaring  thunder  to  peal  forth.  All 
these  things  Heraclius  consumed  with  fire,  and  burned  both  the 
Temple  of  Fire  and  the  entire  city.' 5 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  all  this  testimony  from  the  historic 
past,  the  desolate  scenes  within  the  walls  of  Takht-i  Suleiman 
take  on  new  life.  The  so-called  4  bath  '  resumes  once  more  its 
ancient  glory  as  the  great  fire-temple  of  Adhargushnasp,  whose 
dome,  once  crowned  with  a  silver  crescent,  has  crumbled  into 
decay.  The  deep-sunk  vaulted  arch  beneath  appears  as  the 
shrine  where,  eight  hundred  years  before  Christ,  the  Keianian 
king  Khosru,  robed  in  white,6  prayed  for  victory  over  Afrasiab, 
and,  on  his  triumphant  return  from  battle,  offered  thank- 
offerings  worthy  of  a  king.  The  same  example  of  thanks- 
giving was  followed  by  the  Sasanian  king  Bahram  Gor,  nearly 
five  centuries  after  Christ,  when  he  deposited  in  this  shrine 
the  treasures  won  in  his  victory  over  the  Turanians  and  made 
the  vanquished  queen  a  priestess  in  the  shrine.  Here,  likewise, 
two  centuries  later,  the  Christian  emperor  Heraclius  destroyed 
the  idolatrous  images  of  Khosru  Parviz.  Some  day  the  archae- 
ologist's spade  may  bring  to  light  evidences  even  more  tangible, 
if  greater  proof  be  needed,  of  the  identity  of  this  famous  ancient 
shrine.  As  I  retraced  my  steps  from  the  ruins  of  Takht-i 

1  Gk.  TTJV  Ta.$a.Kbv  ir6\iv.  «  Georgius  Cedrenus  (c.  A.D.  1100), 

2  See  p.  132,  n.  4,  above.  1.  721-722,  ed.  Migne,  Patrolog.  Graec. 
8  Gk.  TraXaTlov.  121.  789-790,  Paris,  1864. 

4  For  the  sceptred  angels,  compare  6  Firdausi,  Shah  Ndmah,  tr.  Mohl, 

the  carving  over  Khosru's  arch  at  Tak-i      4.  155  ;  compare  also  Yt.  9.  21 ;  17.  41. 
Bostan  ;  see  p.  221,  below. 


LEAVING    THE  HISTORIC  RUINS  143 

Suleiman,  I  felt  certain  that  I  had  visited  the  historic  site  of 
Shiz,  designated  also  by  other  names,  but  I  reserved  my  judg- 
ment regarding  the  claim  that  the  walled  enclosure  might 
represent  the  Atropatenian  Ecbatana,  until  I  should  have 
visited  Hamadan. 


CHAPTER   XII 
RAMADAN,  THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

'  Orchards  stretch  their  bloomy  span 
Bound  the  walls  of  Hamadan  ; 
Purples  deepen  on  the  grape, 
Lyric  brooks  make  blithe  escape, 
Yet  are  all  the  glories  gone 
That  the  Lord  of  Macedon 
Saw,  ere  drew  the  revel  on 
And  the  Bacchic  orgy  ran 
Round  the  walls  of  Hamadan.' 
—  CLINTON  SCOLLARD,  Hound  the  Walls  of  Hamadan. 

THE  four  days'  riding  from  Takht-i  Suleiman  were  fatiguing 
ones,  with  forced  marches  of  twelve  hours  a  day  in  the  saddle. 
The  first  night  was  spent  at  the  small  hamlet  of  Nasarabad  in  a 
mud  hovel  whose  roof  was  adorned  by  the  skull  of  a  horse,  which 
served  apparently  as  a  talisman  to  induce  sleep,  for  I  rested  well. 
Toward  evening  on  the  second  day  we  halted  at  Bab-i  Ro- 
shani,  4  Gateway  of  Light,'  which  looked  its  name  as  we  entered 
the  village  at  sunset,  flooded  with  golden  light  from  the  clos- 
ing portals  of  day.  The  third  halt  was  at  Kultapah,  where  I 
passed  an  uncomfortable  night,  but  was  ready  at  daybreak  for 
an  early  start  toward  Hamadan. 

Of  the  many  hard  stages  that  made  up  the  journey  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Urumiah,  over  high,  snow-covered 
mountains,  this  last  was  one  of  the  most  difficult,  for,  although 
April  had  advanced  a  week,  the  drifts  in  the  passes  were  particu- 
larly deep,  and  the  streams  in  the  plains  at  the  foot  of  the  hills 
swollen  and  extremely  hard  to  ford.  My  men  and  horses  had  stood 
the  strain  for  twelve  days  well,  but  I  had  trouble  with  a  guide, 

144 


OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 

-:  ;  .-,  ,liv., 


DISTANT  VIEW  OF  HAMADAN  AND  MOUNT  ALVAND 


THE  MUSALLAH,  HAMADAN 


GLIMPSES  FROM  AFAR  145 

Lutf  ullah,  whom  I  hired  at  Bijar  a  couple  of  days  previously,  to 
serve  also  as  a  guard,  because  the  Muharram  festival  was  at  its 
height  and  a  Christian's  life  is  not  altogether  safe  in  some  of 
the  fanatical  villages  at  this  time,  when  the  Shiite  Mohamme- 
dans work  themselves  up  to  a  religious  frenzy  in  their  lamenta- 
tions at  the  martyrdom  of  Husein,  lacerating  themselves  with 
swords,  knives,  and  sharp  stones  and  throwing  themselves  into 
a  state  of  pious  mania.  As  a  guide  Lutfullah  proved  very 
unsatisfactory  and  on  the  last  day  was  so  cruel  to  his  horse 
and  so  disobedient  to  me  that  I  was  obliged  to  resort  to  force 
and  eject  him  from  the  courtyard  of  the  caravansarai.  He  took 
up  a  position  outside  the  gateway,  crouched  half  sulkily,  half 
threateningly  in  a  corner  with  his  rifle,  and  awaited  my  coming 
out.  I  knew  it  was  no  time  for  hesitation,  so  I  leaped  on  my 
horse  and  rode  through  the  gate.  For  a  moment  he  wavered, 
casting  a  sullen,  menacing  glance,  then  suddenly  his  face 
changed,  he  dismissed  his  anger,  came  quietly  to  my  side,  and 
from  that  time  forward  was  absolutely  obedient  and  devoted 
to  me,  and  proved  so  useful  a  servant  that  I  kept  him  a  number 
of  days  longer  than  I  really  needed  him. 

The  plain  through  which  the  road  approaches  Hamadan  from 
the  north  was  beginning  to  put  forth  signs  of  spring  ;  the  dark, 
moist  earth  showed  a  tinge  of  green;  the  gardens  and  orchard 
leas  were  taking  on  a  trace  of  color  ;  and  the  purple-stalked 
willows  —  such  as  I  have  seen  only  in  the  shading  of  the 
French  impressionist  school — told  that  days  of  sunshine  were 
at  hand.  A  hazy  light  spread  a  soft  glow  over  the  landscape 
and  lent  an  air  of  enchantment  to  all  around,  when  far  in  the 
distance  I  caught  my  first  glimpse  of  Hamadan,  that  city  of  by- 
gone glory. 

Although  the  city  was  in  sight  at  noon,  it  took  nearly  five 
hours  to  reach  it,  and  this  gave  me  a  good  opportunity  to  study 
its  situation  and  the  surrounding  country.  Nature  has  given 
Hamadan  a  location  that  is  in  many  ways  remarkable.  A  level 
plain  spreads  like  a  garden  before  the  feet  of  the  city  for  a 


146  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECS  AT  AN  A 

distance  of  fifteen  miles  in  length  and  ten  in  breadth,  and  pre- 
sents a  smooth  expanse  of  territory  which  is  well  watered  and 
responds  readily  to  cultivation,  yielding  barley,  wheat,  fruit, 
vegetables,  and  the  poppy  plant.  Mountains  and  hills  form  a 
palisade  on  either  side  to  enclose  the  plain.  On  the  southern 
and  western  side  the  mass  of  peaks  called  Alvand  towers  six 
thousand  feet  above  it,  or  twelve  thousand  feet  above  sea-level, 
and  stretches  for  miles  away,  guarding  the  approach  in  that 
direction  and  keeping  watch  by  night  over  the  sleeping  town 
like  some  giant  sentry.  Night  after  night,  during  my  stay  at 
Hamadan,  I  used  to  watch  for  the  moon  to  light  up  the  figure 
of  this  silent  sentinel  muffled  in  ice  and  snow.1  On  either  side 
back  of  the  city  are  lofty  hills,  so  that  the  town  looked  from 
the  distance,  as  I  rode  toward  it,  as  if  it  were  set  on  the  side 
of  a  height.  Directly  adjoining  the  city  is  the  elevation  called 
Musallah,  the  acropolis  in  ancient  times,  but  the  true  propor- 
tions of  this  citadel  height  did  not  come  out  till  I  drew  near 
and  saw  from  its  outline  how  much  more  probable  it  is  that 
this,  rather  than  Takht-i  Suleiman,  is  the  hill  to  which  Herodo- 
tus alludes  in  his  description  of  the  walled  city  of  Ecbatana, 
the  capital  of  ancient  Media.2 

About  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  my  train  of  tired  animals 
slowly  entered  Hamadan,  weary  from  almost  a  fortnight  of 
uninterrupted  marching  from  Urumiah. 

Not  a  sign  of  the  ancient  glory  of  Ecbatana,  that  was  once 
the  home  of  kings,  struck  my  eye,  nor  was  there  a  trace  of  that 
solemn  grandeur  which  is  noble  in  its  decay  at  Persepolis  and 
Pasargadse.  I  saw  instead  only  crooked  streets,  alleys  where 

1  The  name  Alvand  or  Elvend  is  as  pilgrimages  to  the  grave  of  one  of  the 

old  as  the  Avesta,  where  it  is  found  as  followers  of  the  Prophet,  named  Sahib 

Aurvant ;  see  Yt.  19.  3,  asta  aurvanto  Zaman,  who  is  buried  on  the  top  of 

fdnkavo,  '  the  eight  spurs  (?)  of  Aur-  Alvand,  and  near  the  grave  is  a  spring 

vant.'     In  the  Pahlavi  Bundahishn  it  known  as  Chashmah-i  Malik,  '  Foun- 

is  Alvand  (Bd.  19.    3,  alvant).     The  tain  of  the  King.' 
Greeks     called     it     Mount     Orontes  2  See  the  description  of  Herodotus, 

The  Mohammedans  make  p.  162,  below. 


MT.    ALVAND   IN    THE    DISTANCE 


OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE  MODERN   CITY  147 

ran  channels  of  dirty  water,  rows  of  shabby  houses  with  flat 
mud  roofs,  and  not  a  vestige  of  beauty  anywhere.  The  wind- 
ing street  which  I  followed  led  past  a  Mohammedan  burying- 
ground  located  in  the  heart  of  the  town.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  stench  from  the  shallow  graves.  Nothing  but  the  severity 
of  the  winters  and  the  healthy  position  of  the  town  itself  saves 
Hamadan  from  pest.  Street-cleaning  ordinances  appear  not  to 
exist,  and  nature's  scavengers,  the  birds  of  prey,  seem  sadly  to 
neglect  their  duty,  for  the  carcass  of  a  dead  dog  was  lying  in 
one  of  the  frequented  lanes  during  the  entire  time  of  my  two 
visits  at  Hamadan. 

The  outline  of  the  city  is  roughly  that  of  a  parallelogram, 
running  from  north  to  south.1  Mount  Alvand  lies  at  a  dis- 
tance of  about  three  miles  on  the  southern  side;  the  Musallah, 
or  acropolis  hill,  is  adjacent  to  the  eastern  section  of  the  town, 
of  which  it  forms  a  part.2  The  town  itself  is  divided  into  four 
quarters,  or  wards,  for  administrative  purposes,  each  under  a 
separate  magistrate  (kadkhudd),  who  is  accountable  to  the  gov- 
ernor, but  whose  office  is  practically  hereditary.  Through 
the  middle  of  the  city  runs  the  insignificant  river  Alusjird, 
spanned  by  several  single-arch  stone  bridges  and  some  wooden 
ones.  In  the  spring  it  is  swollen  by  the  melting  snows  from 
Alvand,  but  in  summer  it  is  nearly  dry,  although  it  suffices  to 
turn  the  Persian  water-mills  on  its  banks.  This  is  evidently 
the  stream  to  which  Ctesias  refers  when  he  says  that  Semira- 
mis,  queen  of  Assyria,  on  visiting  this  place,  where  she  built  a 
palace,  found  the  city  poorly  supplied  with  water,  and  caused 

1  For  much  information  regarding      the  hill ;  but  it  is  said  to  be  called  also 
'the  localities  of  the  city,  and  for  a      the  Hill  of  Ahasuerus  (Wilson,  Persian 

sketch  map  of  the  town,  I  am  indebted  Life,  p.  157),  and  I  once  heard  it  called 

to  Aram  Zohrabian,  a  native  of  Kama-  Fortress  of  Dara  (Darius).     But  this 

dan.    For  several  notes  I  have  also  to  term  was  given  by  Mirza  Sahak,  a  Per- 

thank  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  H.  L.  Rabino,  sian  of  considerable  education,   who 

British  Consular  Agent  at  Kerman-  may  have  had  some  knowledge  of  the 

shah.  story  of  Darius  Codomannus  and  his 

2  Musallah,   '  citadel,'  is  the  name  overthrow  by  Alexander  the  Great, 
by  which  the  people  generally  know 


148  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

a  channel  to  be  dug  at  vast  expense  to  conduct  the  water  from 
a  lake  on  the  other  side  of  Mount  Orontes  into  the  town.1 

The  population  of  Hamadan  is  estimated  conservatively  at 
twenty-five  thousand,  which  is  probably  less  than  in  ancient 
times,  when  the  city  was  a  great  metropolis.2  The  majority  of 
the  inhabitants  are  Iranian  in  blood,  of  the  old  Median  stock, 
with  some  slight  infusion  of  the  Arab  strain,  and  there  are 
many  Turks,  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  neighboring  villages. 
The  Turkish  characteristics,  however,  are  by  no  means  so 
noticeable  as  at  Urumiah,  and  my  servant  Safar,  who  spoke 
Persian  fluently,  now  began  to  make  jokes  at  the  expense  of 
Shahbas,  the  caravan-leader,  because  his  speech  was  confined 
to  the  Turkish  dialect  of  Azarbaijan  and  he  could  not  converse 
freely  with  all  the  people.  Among  the  inhabitants  are  also  a 
considerable  number  of  Armenians,  about  three  hundred  of 
whom  occupy  a  special  section  of  the  town,  and  there  is  likewise 
a  Jewish  quarter,  in  the  southern  section,  the  community  being 
estimated  at  five  thousand  souls,  a  figure  not  unlikely,  since 
there  have  been  Jews  in  Hamadan  from  the  earliest  times. 
The  Europeans  in  the  city  are  few  in  number.  They  are 
engaged  chiefly  in  the  work  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Mission,  which  established  two  schools  here  for  boys  and  girls 
in  1880,  and  of  the  Alliance  Israelite,  which  began  work  among 
the  Jews  of  Hamadan  in  1900. 

A  tour  of  the  bazaars  will  give  the  best  idea  of  the  Oriental 
population  and  of  the  city's  commercial  status.  For  the  most  part 
the  bazaars  are  of  the  familiar  type,  vaulted  over,  and  they  con- 
tain more  than  five  hundred  busy  shops.  As  a  matter  of  course 
they  are  interesting,  although  only  of  secondary  importance 
when  compared  with  those  in  some  of  the  large  Persian  towns, 
because  the  line  of  caravan  trade  turned  for  a  time  somewhat 

1  See  the  fragments  of  Ctesias  pre-  2  The  population  is  put  at  forty  thou- 

served  in  Diodorus  Siculus,  2.  13.  5,  sand  in  the  Sixty-seventh  Annual  Re- 

ed.  Gilmore,  pp.  51-52,  London,  1888,  port  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 

and  transl.  Booth,  Diodorus  the  Sici-  of  the   Presbyterian    Church    in  the 

lian,  1.  110-111,  London,  1814.  U.S.A.  p.  233,  New  York,  1904. 


IN   THE  BAZAARS  AND   AT  HOME  149 

aside  from  Hamadan,  and  cholera  and  famine  decimated  its 
inhabitants.  Nevertheless  the  commerce  has  been  restored  in 
recent  years,  and  the  merchants  speak  of  the  town  as  4the  store 
(ambdr)  of  Persia.'  Among  the  chief  articles  of  trade  are  the 
leather  goods,  as  Hamadan  is  a  city  of  tanneries  and  the  Hama- 
danis  are  renowned  for  their  skill  in  dressing,  tanning,  and  work- 
ing hides  and  skins,  and  in  manufacturing  from  them  useful  and 
ornamental  goods  and  articles.  Saddles,  straps,  trunk-covers, 
and  pointed  shoes  are  on  sale  at  the  various  booths,  while  the 
soft  white  felts  (namad)  used  for  mats,  saddle-cloths,  shepherd 
coats,  and  helmet-shaped  caps,  can  hardly  be  excelled  in 
Persia. l  I  still  have  as  a  memento  of  Hamadan's  industrial 
work  a  white  felt  saddle-cloth  (ghdslali)  and  two  carpet  saddle- 
bags (khurjlri)  purchased  for  me  by  Safar  in  the  bazaar.  The 
caravansarais,  which  adjoin  the  bazaars  or  are  located  in  the 
vicinity,  number  more  than  fifty  and  do  a  flourishing  business 
in  providing  accommodation  for  the  throngs  of  merchants  and 
pilgrims  that  pass  through  the  city.  There  are  likewise  fully 
sixty  public  baths  which  derive  an  added  income  from  the  same 
source. 

During  my  stay  in  Hamadan  I  was  a  guest  of  the  American 
missionaries  and  thus  enjoyed  a  taste  of  home  life  again  after 
the  wearisome  days  of  halting  at  caravansarais.  At  the  mission 
house  I  made  also  my  first  acquaintance  with  the  true  Persian 
cat  of  higher  breed.  Persia  is  sometimes  called  the  land  of 
cats,  but  the  best  specimens  come  from  the  mountains  of 
Kurdistan  and  are  a  great  contrast  to  the  ordinary  village  cat, 
which  skulks  about  the  caravansarai  and  is  often  a  nuisance  to 
the  traveller  because  of  its  thievish  propensities,  leading  me 
sometimes  to  say  to  Safar  that  I  should  prefer  the  mice  if  I 
had  my  choice.  The  two  Hamadan  tabbies  to  which  I  refer 
were  superb  creatures,  larger  than  the  largest  Angora  cats. 

1  Additional  and  detailed  informa-  Diplomatic  and  Consular  Beports, 
tion  regarding  the  trade  of  Hamadan  Persia,  no.  3189,  annual  series,  pp. 
may  be  obtained  from  Rabino,  British  41-46,  London,  1904. 


150  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

One  of  them  was  pure  white,  the  other  was  partly  black,  but 
in  temperament  both  were  exactly  alike,  and  their  tricks  and 
gambols  together  were  an  endless  source  of  amusement  to 
me. 

The  most  modern  features  of  Hamadan  are  a  telegraph  office 
and  a  bank.  The  banking  establishment  is  a  branch  of  the 
Imperial  Bank  at  Teheran  and  has  for  its  director  an  Arme- 
nian Persian.  The  residence  of  this  gentleman,  to  whose 
courtesy  I  was  also  indebted,  was  partly  furnished  in  European 
style,  adapted  to  Oriental  needs,  and  it  gave  a  good  example  of 
how  ready  the  Iranian  is,  under  certain  conditions,  to  combine 
Western  civilization  with  Eastern  life.  But  it  is  not  the  mod- 
ern phase  of  Hamadan  that  is  interesting  ;  the  chief  interest 
in  the  place  centres  in  its  antiquity,  and  I  shall  devote  the 
rest  of  the  chapter  to  the  historic  associations  of  the  city. 

In  the  first  place,  the  name  Hamadan  can  be  traced  back  to 
the  earliest  times.  During  the  Sasanian  era  it  was  known  as 
Hamatdn?  and  in  the  ancient  Persian  inscriptions  as  Hag- 
matdna?  which  means  literally  '  a  place  of  meeting  or  convening, 
concourse  of  many  ways,'  and  Hamadan  to-day  is  a  meeting- 
place  of  as  many  highways  from  various  parts  of  the  kingdom 
as  when  it  was  the  Median  capital.3  In  the  Babylonian  in- 
scriptions it  appears  as  Agamatanu.*  The  Greek  writer  Ctesias, 
who  knew  Persian  well,  renders  the  name  correctly  as  Agbatana 
(*A7/8aTam),  although  most  of  the  Greeks  called  it  Ekbdtdna 
('E/c/3drava),  with  initial  E,  not  A,  and  giving  to  the  penulti- 
mate vowel  the  wrong  quantity  (a  for  a). 

1  Pahlavi    Hamatdn,    Bd.    12.   12  ;      less  important  places,  including  Tabriz, 
22.  6.  Urumiah,   Kazvin,  Teheran,  Isfahan, 

2  OP.     HMgamataana,    Bh.    2.    76,       Kermanshah,  and  other  cities  known 
77,  from  ham,  'together,'  and  gam,      in  antiquity. 

'to  go,'   i.e.  'Co-ventry'    (?).     Bar-  4  Babylonian    A-ga-ma-ta-nu,    Bh. 

tholomae,  Air.  Wb.  p.  1744,  regards  the  60,  and  Nabonid,  Annaleninschr.  Av. 

etymology  as  uncertain.  2.    3,   4.      Cf.    also   Bang,    Melanges 

8  From   the  top  of  the  Musallah,  Charles  de  Harlez,  p.  8,  Leiden,  1896  ; 

for  example,  it  is  possible  to  count  and  Streck,  Armenien  und   Westper- 

roadways  leading  to  twelve  more  or  sien,  in  Zt.  f.  Assyr.  15.  367. 


PERSIAN  CATS  AT  THE  MISSION  HOUSE,  HAMADAN 


A   FAMOUS   CITY  OF   OLD  151 

The  antiquity  of  these  allusions  to  the  name  shows  how 
ancient  the  history  of  the  city  really  is.  Its  existence  as  early 
as  the  twelfth  century  before  Christ  is  believed  to  be  vouched 
for  by  the  mention  of  Amadana  in  an  Assyrian  inscription  of 
Tiglath-Pileser  I  (c.  B.C.  1100),1  and  we  certainly  have  in- 
scriptional  evidence  to  prove  that  it  must  have  existed  in  the 
time  of  Ramman-nirari,  husband  of  Semiramis  (Sammuramat),2 
or,  according  to  some  authorities,  before  the  end  of  the  ninth 
century  B.C.  Ctesias,  who  was  court  physician  to  Artaxerxes 
Mnemon  for  seventeen  years  (B.C.  416-399),  and  well  acquainted 
with  Persian  traditions,  says  that  'when  Semiramis  came  to 
Ecbatana,  which  is  situated  in  a  low,  level  plain,  she  built  a 
palace  and  bestowed  more  care  and  attention  upon  it  than  she 
had  done  at  any  other  place ' ;  and  Ctesias  describes  the  water- 
courses which  she  caused  to  be  constructed  from  Mount  Alvand 
to  Hamadan.3  According  to  the  same  author,  moreover,  when 
Sardanapalus,  the  last  Assyrian  king,  was  overthrown  by 
Arbaces,  and  the  Median  kingdom  established,  Arbaces  con- 
veyed to  Ecbatana  all  the  gold  and  silver  treasure  which  was 
taken  from  Nineveh  after  its  capture ;  but  the  historic  accuracy 
of  this  report  is,  perhaps,  open  to  question.4 

The  more  generally  accepted  account  of  the  founding  of 
Ecbatana  is  that  given  by  Herodotus,  who  ascribes  its  origin 
to  Deioces,  the  first  great  ruler  of  the  Median  Empire,  about 
B.C.  700.  The  description  of  the  place  is  not  only  picturesque, 
but  important  for  the  purpose  of  identification,  because  of  the 
allusion  to  the  walls. 

1  Spiegel,    Erdnische    Alterthums-  and  the  translation  by  Booth,  Diodorus 
kunde,  2.  246,  and  Browne,  Literary  the    Sicilian,    1.  124.     Compare  also 
History  of  Persia,  p.  20.  Rawlinson,    JRGS.    10.     125,     and 

2  See    Justi,    Geschichte    /raws,   in  consult,     for     Arbaces,     Justi,     Ge- 
Grundr.  iran.  Philol.  2.  404.  schichte  Irans,  in  Grundr.  iran.  Phi- 

3  These  statements  of  Ctesias  are  lol.  2.  407-408.    For  other  traditions 
preserved  in  Diodorus  Siculus,  2. 13.  5.  regarding  the  founding  of  Hamadan, 
See  p.  148,  n.  1,  above,  for  references.  see  Modi,  jShatroihd-i  Airan,  or  Cities 

4  For  the  text  of  Ctesias,  see  Gil-  of  Iran,  p.  151,  Bombay,  1899. 
more,  Fragments  of  Ktesias,  29,  p.  90, 


152  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

'Deioces  built  the  massive  and  strong- walled  city  now  called 
Ecbatana  ('Ay/Jarcwx),  the  walls  being  arranged  in  circles  one  within 
the  other.  The  rampart  is  planned  in  such  a  manner  that  each  circle 
rises  higher  than  the  one  preceding  it  by  the  height  merely  of  the 
battlements.  The  nature  of  the  ground,  which  is  a  gentle  hill 
(xoXtuvos),  is  favorable  for  carrying  out  such  a  design ;  and,  as 
there  are  seven  circles  in  all,  particular  care  was  taken  to  have  the 
royal  palace  and  the  treasury  within  the  innermost  circle.  The  cir- 
cuit of  the  outer  wall  is  nearly  as  large  as  that  of  the  city  of  Athens. 
Of  this  first  circle  the  battlements  are  white ;  the  second,  black ;  the 
third,  red;  the  fourth,  blue;  and  the  fifth,  orange.  The  battle- 
ments of  all  the  circles  are  decorated  in  this  manner  with  colors, 
but  those  of  the  two  last  are  incrusted,  the  one  with  silver,  the  other 
with  gold.  Such  were  the  palace  and  the  surrounding  fortifications 
which  Deioces  built  for  himself;  but  the  rest  of  the  people  he 
ordered  to  build  their  houses  round  about  outside  the  wall.' l 

The  Old  Testament  apocryphal  book  of  Judith  attributes  the 
founding  of  Ecbatana  (called  Achmetha  in  Aramaic,  Ezra  6.  2) 
to  a  king  named  Arphaxad,  whose  historic  identity  has  not  been 
satisfactorily  proved,  and  gives  an  elaborate  description  of  the 
city's  walls,  towers,  and  gates.  I  quote  the  account  in  full, 
although  in  the  eyes  of  most  critics  it  has  no  greater  value 
than  that  which  we  should  attach  to  an  Oriental  romance.  v 

'1.  In  the  twelfth  year  of  the  reign  of  Nabuchodonosor,  who 
reigned  in  Nineveh,  the  great  city ;  in  the  days  of  Arphaxad,  which 
reigned  over  the  Medes  in  Ecbatane,  2.  And  built  in  Ecbatane 
walls  round  about  of  stones  hewn  three  cubits  broad  and  six  cubits 
long,  and  made  the  height  of  the  wall  seventy  cubits,  and  the 
breadth  thereof  fifty  cubits:  3.  And  set  the  towers  thereof  upon 
the  gates  of  it,  a  hundred  cubits  high,  and  the  breadth  thereof  in 
the  foundation  threescore  cubits :  4.  And  he  made  the  gates  thereof, 
even  gates  that  were  raised  to  the  height  of  seventy  cubits,  and  the 
breadth  of  them  was  forty  cubits,  for  the  going  forth  of  his  mighty 
armies,  and  for  the  setting  in  array  of  his  footmen:  5.  Even  in 
those  days  King  Nabuchodonosor  made  war  with  King  Arphaxad  in 
the  great  plain,  which  is  the  plain  in  the  borders  of  Kagau.  .  .  . 

1  Herodotus,  History,  1.  98,  99.  Cf.  194,  London,  1862  ;  H.  C.  Rawlin- 
also  G.  Rawlinson,  Herodotus,  1.  191-  son,  JRGS.  10.  120-127. 


RAMPARTS  AND   BATTLEMENTS  153 

13.  Then  he  marched  in  battle-array  with  his  power  against  King 
Arphaxad  in  the  seventeenth  year,  and  he  prevailed  in  his  battle  : 
for  he  overthrew  all  the  power  of  Arphaxad,  and  all  his  horsemen, 
and  all  his  chariots,  14.  And  became  lord  of  his  cities,  and  came 
unto  Ecbatane,  and  took  the  towers,  and  spoiled  the  streets  thereof, 
and  turned  the  beauty  thereof  into  shame.' l 

According  to  Polybius,  the  Greek  historian,  who  wrote  in 
the  second  century  B.C.,  the  magnificence  of  Ecbatana  was  such 
as  to  call  for  special  notice,  especially  regarding  the  splendor 
of  its  palace  and  the  temple  of  Aena  or  Anaias.  This  name  is 
none  other  than  a  disguised  form  of  Anahita  or  Ana'itis,  the 
Zoroastrian  goddess  of  the  waters,  who  is  celebrated  in  the 
Avesta  and  whose  worship  was  especially  popular  among 
the  Persians  after  the  time  of  King  Artaxerxes  II  (fourth  cen- 
tury B.C.).2  From  other  classic  sources  we  know  that  this 
goddess  had  a  famous  temple  at  Ecbatana.3  The  description 
in  full  is  as  follows  :  — 

'  It  was  originally  the  royal  city  of  the  Medes,  and  vastly  superior 
to  the  other  cities  in  wealth  and  in  the  splendour  of  its  buildings. 
It  is  situated  on  the  skirts  of  Mount  Orontes,  and  is  without  walls, 
though  containing  an  artificially  formed  citadel  fortified  to  an  aston- 
ishing strength.  Beneath  this  stands  the  palace,  which  it  is  in  some 
degree  difficult  to  describe  in  detail,  or  to  pass  over  in  complete 

1  Judith,  1.  1-14.     Yakut,  p.  597,  ing  no  real  historic  importance,  but  as 

asserts  that  Hamadan  was  founded  by  inserted  to  lend  an  air  of  antiquity  to 

one  of  the  great-grandsons  of  Noah,  the   Apocryphal    story;    see  Cheyne, 

and    some    of    the    older    Occidental  Encyclopaedia  Biblica,  s.v.  Arphaxad, 

scholars  used  likewise  to  point  to  the  Judith.    The  value  of  the  description 

name  of  Arphaxad,  grandson  of  Noah,  is  open  to  the  same  attack, 
in    Genesis    10.   22;    11.    10-14,   and  2  See  Windischmann,  Die  persische 

associate  with  it  the    tradition    that  Anahita  oder  Ana'itis,  p.  5,  in  Abhandl. 

Media  was  so  called  from  Madai,  son  of  kgl.  bayr.  Akad.  'Wiss.  Bd.  8,  Abthl.  1, 

Japhet  (Gen.  10.  2);  see  Ker  Porter,  Munich,  1856;  compare  also  pp.  237- 

Travels,  2.  94.      Some  attempts  have  242,  below. 

likewise   been  made  to  identify  Ar-  3  See    Isidorus    Characenus,   Man- 

phaxad,  as  founder  of  Ecbatana,  with  stones    Parthicae,   6,    and    Plutarch, 

Deioces  or  with  his  son  Phraortes ;  Artaxerxes,  27.  3 ;  cf.  Windischmann, 

but  the  trend  of  modern  scholarship  is  Die  persische  Anahita,  pp.  6,  13. 
to  regard  the  name  Arphaxad  as  hav- 


154  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

silence.  To  those  authors  whose  aim  is  to  produce  astonishment,  and 
who  are  accustomed  to  deal  in  exaggeration  and  picturesque  writing, 
this  city  offers  the  best  possible  subject ;  but  to  those  who,  like  myself, 
are  cautious  when  approaching  descriptions  which  go  beyond  ordi- 
nary notions,  it  presents  much  difficulty  and  embarrassment.  How- 
ever, as  regards  size,  the  palace  covers  ground  the  circuit  of  which  is 
nearly  seven  stades ; l  and  by  the  costliness  of  the  structure  in  its  sev- 
eral parts  it  testifies  to  the  wealth  of  its  original  builders  :  for,  all  its 
woodwork  being  cedar  or  cypress,  not  a  single  plank  was  left  un- 
covered ;  beams  and  fretwork  in  the  ceilings  and  columns  in  the 
arcades  and  peristyle  were  overlaid  with  plates  of  silver  or  gold, 
while  all  the  tiles  were  of  silver.  Most  of  these  had  been  stripped 
off  during  the  invasion  of  Alexander  and  the  Macedonians  (B.C.  335), 
and  the  rest  in  the  reigns  of  Antigonus  (B.C.  325-301)  and  Seleucus 
Nieator  (B.C.  312-280).  However,  even  at  the  time  of  Antiochus's 
arrival  (i.e.  Antiochus  the  Great,  B.C.  210),  the  temple  of  Aena  still 
had  its  columns  covered  with  gold,  and  a  considerable  number  of 
silver  tiles  had  been  piled  up  in  it,  and  some  few  gold  bricks  and  a 
good  many  silver  ones  were  still  remaining.  It  was  from  these  that 
the  coinage  bearing  the  king's  impress  was  collected  and  struck, 
amounting  to  little  less  than  four  thousand  talents  ($4,730,000).' 2 

It  is  important  to  note  that  Polybius  says  that  the  city  was 
'  without  walls,  though  it  contained  a  strongly  fortified  citadel 
beneath  which  the  palace  stood,'  and  that  he  says  that  the 
palace  was  built  of  wood,  because  this  would  render  it  pecul- 
iarly liable  to  destruction  as  contrasted  with  the  stone  used 
at  Persepolis. 

If  we  now  ascend  the  hill  known  as  the  Musallah,  or  citadel, 
adjoining  the  city  of  Hamadan,  which  is  built  partly  upon  its 
western  and  northwestern  slope,  we  can  understand  how  it 
might  be  possible  for  the  town  itself  to  be  without  walls,  as 
Polybius  asserts,  and  for  the  fortified  ramparts  and  battlements 
to  be  confined,  in  his  own  words,  to  the  c  artificially  formed  cita- 
del fortified  to  an  astounding  strength,  beneath  which  the 

1  Four  fifths  of  a  mile  in  circum-      burgh,    The    Histories    of    Polybius 
ference.  Translated,  2.  26-27,  London,  1889. 

2  Polybius,  Hist.  10.  27 ;  see  Shuck-      See  also  p.  168,  below. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE  MUSALLAH  HILL  156 

palace  stood. ' 1  The  ascent  of  the  Musallah,  I  may  observe,  is 
steep  enough  for  the  Persian  horses  to  start  up  it  at  a  sharp 
gallop,  as  they  always  do  when  approaching  a  marked  incline. 
The  height,  in  my  judgment,  would  answer  far  better  than 
Takht-i  Suleiman  to  Herodotus'  description  of  the  place  as  a 
Ko\a>v6s  and  would  fulfil  all  the  requirements  of  his  sketch.2 
There  is  room  for  the  seven  circles  of  walls,  and  the  Median 
people  could  have  'built  their  houses  round  about  outside  the 
wall,'  as  Deioces  bade  them  (Herodotus,  1.  99),  on  the  very 
site  still  occupied  by  the  city.  Even  at  the  present  time  the 
ridge  of  the  Musallah  is  crowned  by  the  remains  of  massive 
walls,  some  fifteen  feet  thick  and  twenty  high,  composed  of 
clay,  slate,  brick,  and  small  stones,  and  forming  a  parallelogram 
running  northeast  and  southwest,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  bed 
rock  is  here  and  there  visible.  Although  no  one  would  ascribe  a 
great  antiquity  to  these  redoubts  (in  fact  Agha  Mohammed  Shah, 
at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  is  said  to  have  destroyed 
all  remnants  of  antiquity  at  Hamadan),3  nevertheless  they  may 
occupy  the  same  position  as  those  which  crowned  the  KoXowo? 
in  Median  days  and  be  similar  to  them  in  structure,  for  things 
change  slowly  in  Persia.4 

Herodotus,  moreover,  does  not  say  that  the  walls  of  Ecba- 
tana  were  of  stone,  though  this  might  be  inferred,  and  it  is 
almost  certain  that  the  color  decorations  were  confined  to  the 
battlements  raised  upon  them.  It  is  true  that  the  passage  in 
Judith  speaks  of  4hewn  stone ';  but  even  if  we  are  to  press  the 
phrasing  of  that  historical  romance,  it  may  be  possible  that  the 


1  Canon    George    Rawlinson,    Five  127,  and  George  Rawlinson,  Herodo- 
Great    Monarchies,   3.   23,    expresses  tus,  1.  191-192,  note,   London,  1862. 
doubt   '  whether   the    Median  capital  3  See  Ker  Porter,   Travels,  2.  102 ; 
was  at  any  time  surrounded  by  walls.'  Wilson,  Persian  Life,  p.  157. 

2  It  is  not  clear  to  me  how  Sir  Henry  4  Such  is  also  the  view  of  de  Morgan, 
Rawlinson  could  have  taken  exception  Mission  Scientifique  en  Perse,  4.  248- 
on  this  score,  as  my  careful  examina-  249  ;  it  is  worth  noting  that  he  refers 
tion  of  the  site  on  two  occasions  con-  also  (p.  249)  to  the  ruins  of  two  Gabar 
vinced  me  ;  see  Rawlinson,  JRGS.  10.  towers. 


156  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

blocks  have  been  carried  off  in  later  times  for  building  pur- 
poses, for  one  sees  in  the  city  a  number  of  large  hewn  stones 
built  into  the  foundations  of  houses  and  possibly  taken  from 
such  a  wall,  if  stone,  rather  than  the  earthen  breastworks,  be 
insisted  upon.1  It  must  also  be  said  that  Canon  George  Raw- 
linson,  when  summing  up  his  brother's  claim  that  Takht-i 
Suleiman  represents  the  so-called  northern  capital  of  Media, 
acknowledges  that  4  of  the  seven  walls,  one  alone  is  to  be  traced 
at  Takht-i  Suleiman  ;  and  even  here  the  Median  structure  has 
perished  and  been  replaced  by  masonry  of  a  far  later  age.'2 

The  other  claims  advanced  by  Sir  Henry,  such  as  the  state- 
ment of  Herodotus  (1. 110)  that  the  country  north  of  Ecbatana 
is  mountainous  and  covered  with  forests,  seem  to  me  equally 
applicable  to  Hamadan  as  to  Takht-i  Suleiman,  and  a  compari- 
son of  the  two  sites  in  detail  convinced  me  that  Hamadan  has 
the  right  and  title  to  being  the  sole  heir  of  Ecbatana,  that  the 
Musallah  was  its  citadel,  and  that  the  ruins  of  Takht-i  Sulei- 
man, although  occupying  a  site  that  may  be  equally  old,  but 
not  so  important  as  a  metropolis,  have  a  different  history  from 
Ecbatana.3 

In  view  of  all  these  facts  I  felt  convinced,  when  standing 
upon  the  height  of  the  Musallah  and  overlooking  Hamadan, 

1 1  am  informed  by  Aram  Zohra-  has  changed  in  some  slight  degree,  as 

bian,  of  Hamadan,  that  about  a  year  there  are  evidences  of  ruins  around  the 

after  the  time  when  I  was  in  Persia,  the  northeast  side  of  the  Musallah,  where 

remains  of  a  so-called  Ganj,  'treasury,'  old  bricks  are  dug  up  and  gold  coins 

were  discovered  in  the  Armenian  quar-  are  found.    In  notes  sent  me  by  Mr. 

ter  of  Hamadan  and  some  magnificent  Rabino  it  is  claimed  that  the  site  of 

hewn  stones  were  laid  bare.  the  city  has  been  changed  several  times 

2  George  Rawlinson,  Five  Great  and  the  present  site  of  the  town  can- 
Monarchies,  3.  27,  and  n.  11.  Consult  not  be  more  than  five  hundred  and  fifty 
also  de  Morgan,  Mission  Scientifique  years  old,  but  this  seems  to  me  doubt- 
en  Perse,  4.  248-249.  ful,  and  archasological  researches  alone 

8  My  view  has  been  anticipated,  I  can  settle  the  question.    In  the  Musal- 

find,  by  de  Morgan,  Mission,  4.  238-  lab  itself,  however,  there  is  little  or  no 

249,  whose  chapter  on  Hamadan  should  chance  for  excavation,  as  the  earth  is 

be  consulted.     It  is  possible  that  exca-  almost  entirely  washed  away,  so  that 

vations  for  archaeological  purposes  may  the  bed  rock  is  visible, 
show  that  the  position  of  Hamadan 


THE  HISTORIC   CAPITAL    OF  MEDIA  157 

that  I  was  surveying  the  site  of  the  capital  of  ancient  Media. 
Here  within  the  fortress  there  once  stood  the  royal  treasury 
mentioned  by  Herodotus,1  and  here  the  stronghold  where 
Arbaces  deposited  the  silver  and  gold  found  in  the  king's 
coffers  at  Nineveh.2  Hither  also  the  untold  riches  of  Croesus 
were  conveyed  by  the  conqueror  Cyrus ; 3  and  to  this  strong- 
hold Alexander,  following  the  example  of  his  victorious  prede- 
cessors, transported  the  wealth  he  had  plundered  from  Susa, 
Persepolis,  and  Pasargadse.4  Here  likewise  'at  Achmetha,  in 
the  palace  that  is  in  the  province  of  the  Medes,'  was  found  the 
decree  of  Cyrus  giving  orders  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem,  a  command  which  was  carried  into  effect  by 
Darius  and  his  successor  Artaxerxes.5  The  height  served  also 
as  a  Persian  Bastille  in  ancient  days,  and  here  in  a  dungeon 
the  Acheemenian  kings  caused  offenders  against  the  state  to  be 
confined  and  executed.  Within  its  walls,  for  example,  Darius 
put  to  death  the  Median  leader  Fravarti,  who,  like  several 
others,  had  set  up  a  claim  to  the  throne  while  the  king  was 
engaged  at  Babylon,  and  had  headed  an  army  to  support  his 
claim.  The  pretender  was  defeated  in  battle  at  Raga,  the 
modern  Rei  near  Teheran,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  met  with  a 
fate  that  is  told  in  the  Great  King's  own  words  in  the  rock 
inscription  at  Behistan  :  4  Fravarti  was  seized  and  brought  to 
me.  I  cut  off  his  nose  and  his  ears,  and  cut  out  his  tongue, 
and  put  out  his  eyes.  He  was  kept  in  chains  at  my  door ;  all 
the  people  saw  him.  Afterward  I  caused  him  to  be  crucified;  6 

1  Herodotus,  History,  1.  98.  furthermore  McCrindle,   Invasion  of 

2  Ctesias,  Fragments,  29  (cited  by      India  by  Alexander  the  Great,  pp.  34, 
Diodorus  Siculus),  ed.  Gilmore,  p.  90  ;       126,  n.  1,  London,  1896. 

tr.  Booth,  Diodorus  the  Sicilian,  1.124.  5  Ezra  5.  17  ;  6.  1-3. 

3  Herodotus,  History,  1.  153.  6  Or  « impaled'  (OP.  uzmayapatiy) . 

4  Arrian,  Anabasis,  3.  19.  7,  and  cf.  All  these  mutilations  as  punishments 
3.  18.  10 ;  3.  19.  2  ;  also  Quintus  Cur-  are    still   practised  in   Persia,  except 
tius    Rufus,    Alexander,    5.   6.    1-10  ;  that  the  barbarous  mode  of  execution 
Diodorus  Siculus,  Hist.   17.  71;  Plu-  has  given  place  to  others.      So  also 
tarch,  Alexander,  36-37  ;  Strabo,  Geog.  Hiising,  Elamische  Studien,  in  Mitteil. 
15.  3.  9,  cf.  also  15.  3.  23.     Compare  Vorderasiat.  Gesellsch.  3.  315. 


158  HAMAD  AX,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

and  the  men  who  were  his  principal  followers  I  imprisoned  in 
the  fortress  (dido)  at  Ecbatana.'1 

Here  on  the  citadel  height,  in  addition  to  the  dungeon,  the 
treasure-house,  and  the  temples  of  the  ancient  divinities  of 
Iran,2  there  once  stood  the  palace  of  the  ancient  Median  kings. 
Deioces,  the  founder  of  the  empire  of  Media,  sought  seclusion 
within  its  fortified  walls,  which  he  himself  had  built,  when  he 
assumed  the  crown  and  withdrew  himself  from  the  ordinary 
presence  of  the  people.3  Probably  within  the  same  walls 
Astyages,  according  to  legend,  received  the  youthful  Cyrus, 
who  was  destined  later  to  wrest  from  him  his  crown  and  trans- 
fer the  supremacy  of  Media  to  Persia.4  The  Persian,  kings  of 
the  Achsemenian.  line  kept  up  the  old-time  prestige  of  the 
Median  city  and  its  citadel  by  making  Ecbatana  their  summer 
capital.  Here  in  their  royal  abode  overlooking  the  plains  and 
surrounded  by  high  mountains  they  must  have  found  a  delight- 
ful change  from  Susa,  whose  warm  climate  was  suited  only  for 
a  .Aviiiter  residence,  or  from  Persepolis,  their  spring  and  summer 
home.6  To  Ecbatana  likewise  Alexander  returned  toward  the 
end  of  his  short  career,  in  order  to  celebrate  the  glories  of  his 
campaigns  in  eastern  Iran  and  India.6  The  Parthian  dynasty 
(B.C.  250-A.D.  226)  still  made  the  city  a  favored  place,7  and 
Antiochus  found  in  the  palace  and  temple  an  enormous  amount 
of  gold  and  silver  bullion  to  turn  into  coin  to  pay  his  soldiers.8 
The  Sasanian  rulers  (A.D.  226-651)  were  perhaps  less  partial  to 
Hamadan,  but  the  place  was  still  so  important  when  the  Arabs 
captured  the  city  (645)  that  they  regarded  this  event  as  second 

1  Bh.  2.  73-78.    Foy,  Kukri's  Zeit-  *  Herodotus,   History,   1.  121-130  ; 
achrift,    35.    39-42,    understands    this  Xenophon,  Cyropaedia,  1.  3.   1-18. 
latter  to  mean,  'I  hanged  his  prin-  5  Xenophon,  Anabasis,  3.  5.  15,  and 
cipal  followers  before  the  fortress.'  Cyropaedia,  8.    6.  22;  Strabo,  Geori. 

2  The  temple  of  Anaitis  referred  to  11.  323  ;  Quintus  Curtius  Rufus,  Alcx- 
above,  p.  153,  and  probably  here  like-  ander,  5.  8.  1. 

wise  the  shrine  of  the  Persian  '  vEscu-  6  See  pp.  163-165,  below. 

lapius '  alluded  to  by  Arrian,  Andb.  7.  7  Quintus  Curtius  Rufus,  Alexander^ 

14.  6.  5.  8.  1. 

8  Herodotus,  History,  1.  99.  8  See  p.  154,  above. 


SCENES   OF  BY-GONE   GLORY  159 

only  to  the  triumph  at  Nahavand  over  the  army  of  the  house 
of  Sasan.1  Early  in  the  tenth  century  Hamadan  was  stormed 
by  Mardavij  ibn  Ziar  of  Gilan;  2  in  the  thirteenth  century  by 
Tamerlane ;  and  once  again,  five  centuries  later,  sacked  and 
pillaged  by  Agha  Mohammed  Shah.  It  is  no  marvel  that  this 
ancient  home  of  kings  and  scene  of  great  events  is  but  a  shadow 
of  by-gone  glory.  Its  fate  is  best  told  in  the  verses  of  the 
short  poem  from  which  I  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  the 
chapter. 

'  Gone  the  great  sun-temple  where 

Golden  stair  rose  over  stair  ; 

Gone  the  gilded  galleries, 

Porticoes  and  palaces ; 

And  the  plaintive  night  winds  plead 

For  the  memory  of  the  Mede, 

Sob  for  alien  ears  to  heed, 

Pilgrim  train  and  caravan, 

Round  the  walls  of  Hamadan. 

Nought  of  all  the  radiant  past, 

Nought  of  all  the  varied,  vast 

Life  that  throbbed  and  thrilled,  remains 

With  its  pleasures  and  its  pains, 

Save  a  couchant  lion  lone, 

Mute  memorial  in  stone 

Of  three  empires  overthrown  — 

Median,  Persian,  Parthian  — 

Round  the  walls  of  Hamadan.' 

The  famous  but  battered  stone  lion  referred  to  in  the  verses 
as  the  only  monument  that  has  lasted  through  the  long  ages  of 
Hamadan  now  lies  near  the  foot  of  the  Musallah  not  far  from 
the  road  leading  to  Isfahan.  It  is  one  of  the  landmarks  of 
Hamadan  and  is  regarded  as  a  guardian  genius  of  the  town. 
Even  a  thousand  years  ago  it  was  spoken  of  by  Masudi  as  very 
ancient,  and  he  describes  it  as  standing  by  the  'Lion  Gate' 

1  See    Yakut,    p.    598,   and    Justi,  chap.   130,  ed.   Barbier  de    Meynard, 
Geschichte    /raws,   in    Grundr.    iran.  9.  21-22,   Paris,  1877 ;  and  compare 
Philol.  2.  546.  Horn,  Gesch.  Irans  in  Islam.  Zeit,  in 

2  See  Masudi,  Les  Prairies  d'Or,  Grundr.  iran.  Philol.  2.  564. 


160  II  AM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  EC  BAT  AN  A 

(Bab  al-Asad)  on  a  low  hill  overlooking  the  road  to  Rei  and 
Khorasan.1  He  speaks  of  its  lifelike  appearance  and  compares 
it  in  size  to  some  great  bull  or  a  crouching  camel,  adding  that 
it  was  carved  after  Alexander's  return  from  Khorasan  (as  native 
tradition  ascribes  the  founding  of  Hamadan  to  Alexander)  and 
set  up  as  a  talisman  to  protect  the  walls  of  the  city  and  its 
inhabitants,  which  were  destined  to  be  safe  as  long  as  the  lion 
was  not  thrown  down  or  broken.  The  overthrow  of  the  lion 
was  accomplished,  he  tells  us,  about  his  own  time,  when  the 
army  of  Mardavij  stormed  Hamadan,  as  stated  above,2  and  this 
event  was  accompanied  by  utter  disaster,  which  fulfilled  the 
prophecy.  A  legend  almost  as  old,  recorded  by  Yakut  (about 
A.D.  1220),  says  that  the  image  was  set  up  by  Belinas  as  a 
talisman  against  the  severe  winters  of  Hamadan.3  If  effica- 
cious, we  can  hardly  imagine  what  would  be  the  rigor  of  the 
climate  without  its  influence,  for  Hamadan  is  one  of  the  coldest 
places  in  Persia.  In  the  absence  of  authentic  history  we  can 
only  resort  to  legend  and  tradition  regarding  this  lion  monu- 
ment and  its  origin,  but  popular  belief  has  certainly  surrounded 
the  sculptured  stone  with  a  deep  veneration  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people.  Dozens  of  superstitions  are  attached  to  it.  Mothers 
hold  up  their  babes  to  pat  the  huge  beast  or  kiss  its  face, 
barren  women  touch  its  brow  to  remove  the  curse  of  sterility, 
and  pilgrims  lay  offerings  of  stones,  some  of  them  carved,  upon 
its  head  as  a  coronet  or  on  the  block  below  its  mouth. 

From  the  standpoint  of  art  the  lion  is  rather  effective  in  the 
distance,  as  the  mutilation  of  the  stone  does  not  then  show, 
and  I  was  impressed  by  the  lifelike  appearance  of  the  image  as 
I  first  rode  toward  it,  an  effect  which  is  enhanced  by  the 

1  Masudi  (died  951)  devotes  a  para-  Belinas  also  placed  other  talismans, 
graph    to    this     monument     in     his  no  longer  in  existence,  to  the  right  of 
Meadows  of  Gold,  chap.  130,  see  Les  the  statue   to   protect  the  people  of 
Prairies   d'Or,   ed.  Barbier  de  Mey-  Hamadan  against  snakes,   scorpions, 
nard,  9.  21-22.  insects,  and  floods.      Belinas  is  com- 

2  See  p.  159,  above.  monly  explained  as  a  corrupt  Oriental 
8  Yakut,    p.    606,    who    adds    that      form  for  Plinius,  Pliny. 


THE  LION  OF  HAMADAN 


THE  LION'S  FACE 
(Votive  stone  offerings  under  the  mouth) 


THE  FAMOUS   STONE  LION  161 

yellowish  sandstone  out  of  which  the  figure  is  carved.  The 
head  is  massive,  and  the  heavy  waves  of  the  mane  are  realistic 
in  appearance,  but  it  is  difficult  to  catch  the  exact  expression  of 
the  face  in  its  present  prone  position,  although  the  chin  is  well 
marked  and  the  jaws  are  partly  open.  A  deep  hole  in  the 
forehead  mars  the  expanse  of  the  brow,  and  the  face  is  smeared 
by  dirty  hands  and  is  greasy  from  the  oil  which  pilgrims  pour 
upon  it.  Between  the  shoulders  and  in  the  back  there  are  eight 
or  more  holes,  due  to  erosion,  and  the  rain  settling  in  these  cavi- 
ties has  tended  to  enlarge  them,  so  that  several  are  big  enough 
for  the  fist  to  be  inserted.  Although  the  legs  of  the  creature 
are  broken  off  at  the  shoulders  and  thighs,  the  body  is  entire 
and  not  split  by  a  crack  as  the  reproductions  in  some  books, 
since  the  time  of  Flandin,  would  lead  one  to  suppose.1  A  care- 
ful examination  of  the  sculpture  shows  that  the  lion  originally 
sat  in  an  upright  posture  with  the  forelegs  straight  and  with- 
out any  curve  from  the  shoulders  except  the  natural  rounding 
at  the  haunches.  In  other  words,  it  was  a  lion  sejant,  not 
coucTiant.  The  right  hip  is  lower  than  the  left,  and  the  tail, 
though  missing,  curved  around  the  left  flank,  as  is  shown  by  a 
perceptible  groove  in  the  stone  at  that  point.  From  head  to 
tail  the  image  measures  between  eleven  and  twelve  feet  (3.40  m.), 
the  head  itself  being  nearly  forty  inches  in  diameter  (1  m.). 

The  present  position  of  the  lion,  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile 
from  the  foot  of  the  Musallah,  and  facing  south,  is  probably  due 
to  chance.  Both  Masudi  and  Yakut  speak  of  the  sculpture  as 
being  near  a  gate  of  the  city,  and,  judging  from  a  modern  mud 
tower  which  guards  the  road  at  this  point,  it  is  possible  that 
there  once  was  a  gate  near  by,  or  that  the  lion  possibly  guarded 
an  entrance  to  the  citadel  height  at  this  spot. 

Concerning  the  age  of  the  statue  we  can  only  make  guesses, 
reckoning  back  from  the  time  when  Masudi  spoke  of  it  a 

1  See,  for  example,  Flandin  and  Rawlinson,  Five  Great  Monarchies, 
Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  3.  92 ;  Justi,  Geschichte  des  Alten 
1.  pi.  25 ;  Texte,  p.  17 ;  George  Persiens,  p.  5,  Berlin,  1879. 


162  HAM  AD  AN,   THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

thousand  years  ago.  On  the  whole  I  agree  with  those  who 
attribute  a  great  antiquity  to  the  sculpture,  assigning  it  even 
to  the  times  of  the  ancient  Median  kingdom,  when  it  may  have 
anticipated  the  lion  of  the  royal  Persian  emblem. 

Not  far  from  the  lion  and  in  the  southeastern  section  of  the 
city,  there  is  a  towerlike  structure  which  is  generally  called 
by  the  people  Burj-i  G-urbdn,  or  Kurbdn,  *  Tower  of  Sacrifice,' 
but  was  pointed  out  to  me  as  the  Zardushtldn,  or  Zoroastrian 
fire-temple,  by  Mirza  Sahak,  an  intelligent  Persian.  One 
morning,  after  coming  down  from  the  mound  of  the  citadel, 
I  paid  a  visit  to  this  partly  ruined  turret.  I  found  a  structure 
decagonal  in  shape  and  built  of  ordinary  Persian  bricks,  not  the 
large  sun-dried  bricks  as  at  Rei  and  in  the  fire-temple  near 
Isfahan.  It  reminded  me,  in  appearance,  of  another  towerlike 
building  which  I  had  visited  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city, 
the  Gumbad-i  Alavian,  and  like  the  latter  it  gave  me  the 
impression  of  being  no  older  than  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
time  of  the  Mongol  sway.  I  could  not  see  anything  particu- 
larly Zoroastrian  about  it,  nor  was  there  anything  in  its  interior 
to  support  such  a  view.  The  ten  wall-spaces  on  the  inside  were 
set  off  by  pointed  niches,  and  there  were  four  small  window 
openings  high  up,  which  gave  a  good  light.  The  woodwork 
around  these  openings  had  been  partially  burned  away,  evi- 
dently by  some  accidental  fire.  There  were  also  one  or  two 
charred  pieces  of  beams  here  and  there  in  the  walls.  Other- 
wise the  interior  was  empty,  and  the  only  opening  in  the  floor 
was  an  irregular  descent  into  what  was  probably  once  a  tomb. 
Within  the  walls  of  the  building  the  natives  on  certain  occa- 
sions sacrifice  a  camel,  which  accounts  for  the  name,  '  Tower  of 
Sacrifice,'  by  which  the  structure  is  known.1 

1  This  rite  may  be  a  survival  of  some  tenth  day  of  the  twelfth  Mohammedan 

ancient  rite,  like  the  animal  sacrifices  month  of  Zi-hi)ja,  in  commemoration 

in  the  Avesta,  Yt.  5.  21,  25,  33,  etc.,  of  Abraham's  offering  up  his  son  Isaac 

and  the  festival  lld-i  kurbdn,  'id-i  azhd,  (or,  according  to  the  Mohammedans, 

in  which  sheep  are  sacrificed  even  by  Ishmael),  as  I  am  informed  by  Kho- 

Zoroastrians  as  well  as  Moslems  on  the  dabakhsh  Bahram  llais,  of  Yezd,  in  a 


TOWERS  AND   SHRINES  163 

The  Gumbad-i  Alavian,  to  which  I  have  alluded  as  being  in 
the  northwestern  part  of  the  town,  is  a  shrine  perhaps  five  or 
six  centuries  old,  belonging  to  the  Seljuk  era,  and  sacred  as  a 
tomb ;  but  its  only  interest  for  us  consists  in  the  stucco  work 
of  the  interior.  This  is  artistic  alike  in  design  and  in  execu- 
tion, and  there  are  also  some  scrolls  of  fine  workmanship  and 
Kufic  inscriptions  from  the  Koran,  which  are  very  ornamental. 

Probably  older,  as  far  as  concerns  the  site  which  it  occupies, 
is  the  Kalah-i  Kohnah,  4  Ancient  Citadel,'  on  the  southern  side 
of  Hamadan,  lying  in  the  direction  of  Mount  Alvand  (see  sketch 
map).  If  archaeological  researches  should  be  undertaken  in 
the  neighborhood  of  this  structure  they  might  possibly  yield 
interesting  relics,  as  Hamadan  is  rich  in  antiquities,  and  the 
soil  of  the  plain,  when  systematically  dug,  washed,  and  exam- 
ined, as  is  done  by  some  enterprising  natives,  yields  a  consider- 
able harvest  of  old  coins,  seals,  jewels,  and  other  valuables, 
which  repays  the  labor  involved.1  Gold- washing,  in  fact,  is  a 
regular  occupation  at  Hamadan,  and  systematic  washing  of  the 
fields  has  been  carried  on  for  the  past  twenty  years.  The  yield 
in  coins  and  nuggets  has  decreased,  but  the  amount  of  gold-dust 
that  is  found  gives  a  fairly  good  profit. 

I  have  spoken  of  Alexander  the  Great  in  connection  with 
Hamadan,  and  we  know  from  history  that  he  twice  visited  this 
ancient  capital  of  Media,  once  when  pursuing  the  vanquished 
Darius  Codomannus,  and  afterward  when  returning  from 
Bactria  and  India.  His  name  is  still  well  known  among  the 
people  as  Iskandar  and  various  legends  about  him  are  preserved 
to  the  present  time.  A  building,  for  example,  near  the  bridge 
leading  over  the  stream  to  the  Musallah,  is  said  to  occupy  the 
site  of  the  4  Governor's  Palace,'  where  he  is  supposed  to  have 

letter  dated  May  14,  1905.    See  p.  371,  1  See  also  the  remarks  by  Wilson, 

below,  and  cf.  also  Pietro  della  Valle  Persian  Life,  p.  157  ;  and  compare  the 

(1617),    Viaggi,  1.  536;  Travels,  ed.  reproductions  of  the  finds  in  the  collec- 

Pinkerton,  9.  36  ;  Tavernier,  Travels,  tion  of    de   Morgan,   Mission    Scien- 

p.  143.  tifique,  4.  250-251. 


164  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

stayed,  and  evil  tales  regarding  his  habits  of  excessive  drink- 
ing still  linger  among  the  people.  They  repeat  a  story  that 
one  night  in  his  cups  he  boasted  how  rapidly  he  was  conquer- 
ing the  world.  4  Sire,'  said  one  of  his  generals,  '  it  is  through 
your  father's  soldiers  that  you  win  such  successes.'  Angered 
at  the  rebuke  and  inflamed  with  wine,  he  caused  his  remonstra- 
tor  to  be  put  to  death  forthwith.  On  the  following  day,  not 
knowing  what  he  had  done,  he  called  for  the  general  and  then 
learned  of  the  crime  he  himself  had  committed.  The  site  of 
the  supposed  tomb  of  his  victim  is  pointed  out  on  the  street 
overlooking  the  stream  and  is  called  Grabr-i  Iskandar,  4  Grave 
of  Alexander,'  for  the  common  people  more  generally  believe 
that  the  World-Conqueror  himself  is  buried  there,  rather  than 
that  it  is  the  grave  of  Alexander's  officer.  The  so-called 
sepulchre  is  nothing  more  than  a  recess  in  a  rounded  bastion  of 
clay,  mortar,  and  stone,  that  now  forms  part  of  the  foundation 
of  a  mud  house  which  is  occupied  as  a  dwelling  and  is  entered 
by  a  small  door,  a  foot  and  a  half  wide  and  two  feet  high. 
I  made  no  attempt  to  inspect  the  supposed  crypt  more  closely.1 
The  story  as  it  is  told  in  Hamadan  seems  to  contain  a  remi- 
niscence of  the  death  of  the  general  Clitus,  whom  Alexander 
slew  with  his  own  hand  in  a  fit  of  drunken  madness  because  he 
ventured  to  rebuke  the  conqueror  —  an  event  generally  said  to 
have  taken  place  at  Samarkand  —  combined  with  a  tradition 
of  the  loss  of  his  favorite,  Hephsestion,  who  died  at  Hamadan 
and  whose  death  Alexander  mourned  in  a  wild  despair.2 
Plutarch  describes  the  circumstances  attending  upon  this 

1  Those  natives  of    Hamadan  who  and  the  body  was  accordingly  interred, 

maintain    that    Alexander    is    really  This  note  I  have  on  the  authority  of 

buried  in  their  city  narrate  a  legend  to  Mr.  H.  L.  Rabino  of  Kermanshah.   The 

the  effect  that  he  gave  orders  that  after  symbolism  in  the  legend  can  easily  be 

his  death  his  body  should  be  carried  recognized. 

with  outstretched  arms,  holding  earth  2  See  Plutarch,   Alexander,  60,  51, 

in  the  hand,  about  the  kingdoms  which  72,  ed.  Bekker,  Leipzig,  1858  ;  transl. 

he  had  conquered.     His  corpse  should  Langhorne,   5.  256-269,  282-283  ;  cf. 

be  buried  wherever  he  withdrew  his  McCrindle,  Invasion  of  India,  p.  43, 

hand.      This  happened  at   Hamadan  London,  1896. 


OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


-**    '^ 


BRIDGE  OVER  THE  RIVER  AT  HAMAD  AN  —  MOUNT  ALVAND  IN 
THE  BACKGROUND 


LEGENDS    OF  ALEXANDER  165 

latter  event.  Alexander  had  returned  to  Ecbatana  from 
India,  and  on  reaching  the  ancient  capital,  of  which  he  was 
now  the  victorious  lord,  he  gave  himself  up  to  celebrating  his 
successes  with  all  the  wanton  luxuriousness  of  the  East,  for 
his  habits  had  been  growing  more  and  more  Asiatic,  much  to 
the  distress  of  his  hardier  Macedonian  leaders.  The  rejoicings 
were  accompanied  by  games  and  public  festivities  conducted  in 
regal  fashion.  In  the  midst  of  these  celebrations,  which  Plu- 
tarch pictures  as  little  better  than  drunken  orgies,  Hepheestion 
died.  4  Alexander's  grief  knew  no  bounds,'  he  says.  4  He 
immediately  ordered  the  manes  of  the  horses  and  mules  to 
be  shorn  as  a  sign  of  mourning,  and  tore  down  the  battlements 
of  the  towns  in  the  vicinity; 1  he  caused  the  unfortunate  physi- 
cian who  had  attended  Hephsestion  to  be  impaled,  and  forbade 
the  flute  and  all  other  music  in  the  camp  for  a  long  time.'2 
Plutarch  then  describes  how  Alexander  ravaged  the  country 
round  about,  taking  vengeance  on  the  people  for  the  death  of 
his  minion,  putting  to  the  sword  all  those  that  were  of  youth- 
ful age  and  calling  this  'a  sacrifice  to  Hephsestion.'  He 
designed  a  superb  tomb  for  the  dead  favorite,  which  was  to 
cost  ten  thousand  talents  arid  be  executed  by  the  celebrated 
Greek  architect  Stasicrates  ;  but  whether  the  mausoleum  was 
ever  built  or  whether  the  body  was  less  magnificently  interred 
at  Ecbatana  or  perhaps  even  embalmed  and  carried  with  Alex- 
ander to  Babylon,  is  not  known.  Nor  is  it  at  all  certain  that 
the  so-called  sarcophagus  of  Alexander  preserved  in  Constanti- 
nople was  really  the  coffin  of  the  great  conqueror.3 

Another  tomb,  which  is  less  known,  but  in  reality  more  inter- 
esting, is  that  which  contains  the  body  of  the  great  physician 
and  philosopher,  Ibn  Sina,  or  Abu  AH  ibn  Sina,  better  known 

1  This  is  the  statement  of  Plutarch,  traditions  about  Alexander,  compare 
72,   T&V  irtp£    7r6Xew»>,  but  generally  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  99-101. 
understood  to  refer  to  the  walls  of  EC-  3  For    a    picture    of    the  so-called 
batana  ;  see  ^Elian,  Hist.  7.  8;  cf.  Lang-  Alexander  sarcophagus  at  Constanti- 
horne,  Plutarch's  Lives,  5.  283,  n.  190.  nople,  see  Skrine  and  Ross,  Heart  of 

2  Plutarch,  Alexander,  72.  For  other  Asia,  p.  9,  London,  1899. 


166  HAMAD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

to  the  West  as  Avicenna.  This  remarkable  man  flourished 
about  A.D.  1000  and  was  one  of  the  finest  intellectual  forces 
that  the  Orient  ever  produced.  He  was  a  native  of  Bokhara 
in  Turkistan,  but  lived  long  in  Persia,  spending  his  last  days 
at  Hamadan.  His  famous  work  on  medicine,  written  in 
Arabic,  but  based  on  Greek  authorities,  ranks  as  a  standard  in 
the  East  and,  through  the  medium  of  translations,  enjoyed 
such  distinction  in  Europe,  some  hundreds  of  years  ago, 
that  Chaucer  refers  to  it  in  the  Pardoner's  Tale  as  a  work 
familiarly  known  to  his  readers.1  Avicenna's  metaphysical 
writings,  which  were  likewise  affected  by  Greece,  being  influ- 
enced by  Aristotle  and  Neo-Platonism,  also  found  their  way 
indirectly  into  Europe  through  the  so-called  Arabian  philosophy 
of  the  Moors  in  Spain  and  thus  affected  scholastic  philosophy.2 
In  addition  to  his  renown  as  a  physician  and  philosopher 
Ibn  Sina  had  some  repute  as  an  occasional  writer  of  verse  ; 
some  of  his  quatrains  anticipate  Omar  Khayyam  by  a  century. 
I  paraphrase  a  stanza  which  is  particularly  Khayyamesque  in 
tone  and  looks  almost  as  if  'that  large  infidel'  might  have 
written  it. 

1  From  Earth's  dark  Centre  unto  Saturn's  Gate 
I've  solved  all  Problems  of  this  World's  Estate, 
From  every  Snare  of  Plot  and  Guile  set  free, 
Each  Bond  resolved  —  saving  alone  Death's  Fate.'8 

1  Chaucer,  Pardoner's   Tale,   889-  '  From  the  abysm  of  the  dark  earth  to 
891.  the  height  of  Saturn, 

2  See  Browne,  Literary  History  of  I  have  made  all  mysteries  of  the  world 
Persia,  p.  381.  resolved  ; 

8  To  show  I  am  not  over-influenced  I  have  leaped  free  from  the  fetters  of 
by  FitzGerald  (quatrain  31)  I  append  all  machinations  and  guile  ; 

the  Persian  text  of  the  quatrain  and  Every  bond  has  been  resolved,  except 
translate  it  literally :  —  the  bond  of  Death.' 

az  ka'r-i  gil-i  sldh  td  auj-i  ziihal  Instead  of  gil  there  is  a  reading  gul, 

kardam  hamah  mushkildt-i  gltl  rd  hal  'from  the  root  of  the  dark  rose,'  and 

blrun  jastam  zi-kaid-i  har  makr  u  hll  'dlam,  'world,'  as  a  synonym  for  gltl 

har  band  kushddah  shud  magar  band-i  in  the  second  line.     The  text  of  this 

ajal  quatrain  is  given  by  Eth6,  Nachrichten 


TOMB  OF  AVICENNA  (!BN  SINA) 


ToMl!    OF    KSTHKK    AM)    MoKDKCAI 


THE   TOMB    OF  AVICENNA  167 

The  tomb  itself  is  a  simple  brickwork  building,  rectangular 
in  shape,  and  surrounded  by  an  unpretentious  walled  court- 
yard which  is  haunted  by  dervishes,  pilgrims,  and  loiterers. 
A  carved  and  inscribed  slab  covers  the  dust  of  the  great  thinker, 
and  by  his  side  rest  the  remains  of  his  contemporary,  Sheikh 
Abu  Sai'd,  the  Persian  mystic  poet  and  author  of  quatrain 
verses  in  allegorical  and  symbolic  style,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  acquainted  with  Ibn  Sina.1  A  modern  inscription  written 
inside  the  tomb  records  the  fact  that  this  final  resting-place  of 
'  His  Holiness  Sheikh  Abu  Sa'id  and  the  Prince  of  Sages,  Bu 
Ali  Sina  (Avicenna),'  had  fallen  into  ruins  and  had  been 
restored  by  the  Princess  Nigar  Khanum  of  the  royal  line  of 
the  Kajar  family  in  the  year  1877  (A.H.  1294). 2 

Still  another  poetical  shrine,  situated  not  far  from  the  Gum- 
bad-i  Alavian  in  the  northwestern  section  of  the  city,  is  the 
tomb  of  another  pre-Khayyamite,  the  dervish  poet  Baba  Tahir 
Uryan  (d.  1019),  a  native  of  Hamadan,  whose  verses  are  in 
especial  favor  with  the  Persians  because  of  their  sweetness  and 
their  moral  tone,  even  though  tinged  with  the  tender  melan- 
choly which  marks  the  dervish  character.3 

Among  the  various  tombs  in  the  city  by  far  the  most  inter- 
esting, because  of  its  traditional  claims  upon  the  student  of  the 

von  der  Kgl.  Ges.  d.  Wiss.  zu  Gottingen,  And  leapt  out  free  from  bonds  of 

p.  558,  Gottingen,  1875,  and  by  Pizzi,  fraud  and  lies, 

Chrestomathie  Persane,  p.  89,  Turin,  'Yea,  every  knot  was  loosed,  save  that 

1889  ;    for  a  German  version  of  the  of  death.' 

stanza  consult   Horn,   Geschichte  der 

Persischen  Litteratur,  p.  150,  Leipzig,  1  See  Eth(§'  *«*!>"***"  Litteratur, 

1901.    For  the  phraseology  of  Omar's  in  Grundr'  iran'  Phil°1'  2'  275' 

quatrain    (no.  303)    which   resembles  2  A  verse  from  Hafiz  on  springtime 

Ibn  Sina's  in  many  respects,  see  Whin-  and  the  Divine  Love  is  added'  and 
field,  Quatrains  of  Omar  Khayyam,  thanks  are  Siven  to  God  for  the  rest°- 
pp.  204-205,  London,  1883,  who  ren-  ration  of  the  shrine'  I  am  ind^ted 

ders  Khayyam's  stanza :  -  to  Mr'  Rabino  for  a  COW  of  the  Persian 

inscription. 

4 1  solved    all   problems,   down  from  3  See    Heron -Allen    and    Brenton, 

Saturn's  wreath  Lament  of  Baba  Tahir,  London,  1902  ; 

Unto  this  lowly  sphere  of  earth  be-  and  Ethe',  Neupersische  Litteratur,  in 

neath,  Grundr.  iran.  Philol.   2.  223. 


168  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

Bible,  is  the  sepulchre  alleged  to  be  the  burial-place  of  Esther 
and  Mordecai.  This  is  situated  in  an  old  Jewish  cemetery 
south  of  the  centre  of  the  city  and  is  said  to  occupy  the  same 
site  as  the  original  tomb,  which  was  demolished  when  Tamer- 
lane sacked  Hamadan.1  The  building  is  a  small  brick  struc- 
ture with  a  high  pointed  cupola  that  has  lost  most  of  its  stucco 
and  tiles.  The  entrance  is  an  unpretentious  arch  pierced  by  a 
very  low  door,  which  is  made  of  a  single  stone  turning  heavily 
on  rough-hewn  pivots  carved  from  the  stone  itself  and  set  in 
deep  sockets.2  I  had  to  crouch  to  pass  through,  and  then  found 
myself  in  a  low  winding  passage  leading  into  the  crypt.  The 
dingy  walls  of  this  vaulted  room  are  so  discolored  by  the  smoke 
from  tapers  and  ill-fed  lamps  used  to  light  the  hundreds  of 
pilgrims  who  visit  the  shrine  (Mohammedans  as  well  as  Jews) 
that  the  texts  and  graffiti  in  various  languages  are  hardly 
noticed.  Side  by  side  in  the  middle  of  the  chamber  are  the 
two  graves,  each  covered  by  an  ark-shaped  sarcophagus  made  of 
ebony,  one  slightly  smaller  than  the  other,  and  inscribed  with 
Hebrew  letters.  These  and  the  inscriptions  on  the  walls  con- 
tain texts  from  Esther  and  eulogies  of  the  Jewish  heroine  and 
of  Mordecai,  together  with  various  other  records.3  Fragments 
of  parchment  scrolls  of  the  Scriptures,  crumbling,  but  too  sacred 
to  destroy,  are  scattered  about,  placed  here  for  safe-keeping  as 
in  the  Jewish  Crenizahs.  Regarding  the  authenticity  of  the 
graves  scholarly  criticism  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  Jews  of 
Hamadan  are  the  victims  of  a  pious  delusion  and  that  the  tradi- 
tion that  the  tomb  represents  the  sepulchre  of  Esther  and 
Mordecai  (whose  names  are  inscribed  on  the  cenotaphs)  has  no 
historic  foundation.  The  Hebrews  themselves  in  the  city 

1  Cf.  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  108.  but  the  latest  scholarly  treatment  of 

2  There  are  socket-holes  of  similar  these  inscriptions  is  by  Israel  Le'vi, 
pivots  in  the  square  building  opposite  lievue  des  Etudes  Juives,  36.  237-255, 
the  tombs  at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  which  is  Paris,  1898,  and  by  Kaufmann,  op.  cit. 
described  at  p.  302,  below.  37.  303-304.     A  picture   of  the  two 

8  Ker  Porter,   Travels,  2.   107,  de-      sarcophagi  may  be  seen  in   Flandin, 
scribed  them  nearly  a  century  ago,       Voyage  en  Perse,  Moderne,  pi.  69. 


THE   TOMB    OF  ESTHER  AND   MORDECAI  169 

never  question  the  authenticity,  however,  and  firmly  believe 
that  miracles  are  wrought  at  the  sepulchre,  especially  at  the 
time  of  the  Purim  festival.1  To  them  the  Biblical  account  of 
Esther  is  not  a  work  of  fiction,  but  a  record  of  fact,  of  scenes 
enacted  in  this  city  where  Xerxes,  with  whom  King  Ahasuerus 
has  been  historically  identified,  had  his  summer  residence  and 
carved  an  inscription  on  Mount  Alvand.  Haman,  his  minister, 
is  a  living  reality  in  their  eyes,  and  they  are  capable  of  meas- 
uring the  persecutions  which  he  inflicted  on  their  people  by 
their  own  sufferings  endured  from  time  to  time  in  Persia. 
Under  these  circumstances  we  can  imagine  what  must  have 
been  the  rejoicings  of  their  ancestors  at  Susa,  if  not  at  Hamadan, 
in  Bible  times  when  the  appeal  of  their  beautiful  heroine 
touched  the  heart  of  King  Ahasuerus  (Xerxes)  and  caused 
him  to  spare  their  people  and  to  hang  their  enemy  on  the 
very  gallows  that  had  been  prepared  for  Mordecai.2 

Other  stories  from  the  Scriptures,  besides  these,  haunt  our 
memory  when  in  Hamadan.  Here  at  Ecbatana,  as  described 
in  the  apocryphal  book  of  Tobit,3  lived  Sara,  daughter  of 
Raguel,  who  was  under  the  fatal  ban  of  the  demon  Asmodeus 
until  freed  by  Tobias.4  If  this  story  be  dismissed  as  too 
legendary,  we  still  may  advert  to  another  Scriptural  fact, 
known  from  later  history,  namely,  that  Antiochus  Epiphanes 
(about  B.C.  164)  came  to  Ecbatana  after  the  outrages  he  com- 
mitted at  Persepolis,  and  was  here  smitten  by  the  disease  that 
brought  about  his  death  as  a  direct  visitation  of  the  curse  of 

1  See  the  article  by  Sidi  of  Hamadan,  »  Tobit  3.  7  ;  6.  6  ;  7.  1 ;  14.  12,  14. 
in  Revue  des  Ecoles  de  V Alliance  Is-  See  also  Moulton,  The  Iranian  Back- 
raelite,  no.  8,  pp.  64-68,  Paris,  1903.  ground  of   Tobit,   in  the  Expository 
Sidi  endeavors  to  refute  the  claims  Times,  11.  257-260.    Again  Sir  Henry 
against  the  authenticity  made  by  Israel  Rawlinson,  JRAS.  10. 136-137,  pleads 
Le>i  (see  reference  in  preceding  note)  that  Takht-i  Suleiman,  not  Hamadan, 
and  points  to  the  miraculous  manner  fulfils  the  conditions  described  in  Tobit. 
in  which  women  are  freed  from  barren-  4  The  demon  Asmodeus  is  generally 
ness  by  performing  certain  rites  in  the  regarded  as  identical  with  Aeshma  the 
monument.  Daeva,  in  the  Avesta,  but  this  is  doubted 

2  Esther  7.  10  seq.  by  some. 


170  HAM  AD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

God,  alluded  to  in  2  Maccabees  9.  1-3.  In  addition  to  this 
I  may  again  recall  the  Biblical  statement  to  which  I  have 
already  referred,  describing  how  the  edict  of  Cyrus  the  Great 
in  favor  of  the  Jews  was  found  at  Hamadan.  In  connection 
with  the  Bible,  likewise,  although  not  confined  to  Hamadan, 
I  observed  a  parallel  to  the  custom  of  cities  of  refuge  ;  for,  as 
I  walked  through  the  streets  of  the  town,  I  saw  several  pre- 
cincts marked  off  by  chains  over  the  entrances  and  gateways 
to  indicate  that  the  places  were  asylums  of  refuge,  like  those 
recognized  in  the  Pentateuch.1  One  of  these  last  khdnah,  as 
they  are  called,  is  the  Imam  Zadah  Yahya,  not  far  from  the 
Musallah  Hill. 

A  visit  to  Hamadan  would  be  incomplete  without  a  sight  of 
the  Ganj  Namah  inscriptions  carved  by  Darius  and  his  son 
Xerxes  on  one  of  the  rocky  peaks  of  Mount  Alvand,  southwest 
of  the  city,  on  the  summer  route  to  Tuisirkan.  The  distance 
is  about  an  hour's  easy  ride  on  horseback,  but  owing  to  the 
snow  and  muddy  roads  it  took  me  double  the  time  to  reach  the 
place.  The  inscriptions  are  carved  in  two  niches  in  the  face  of 
a  granite  rock,  about  a  hundred  feet  above  a  small  stream 
which  flows  past  the  base  of  the  hill.  The  situation  is  a  pic- 
turesque one,  and  the  approach,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
is  not  difficult,  but  I  had  to  clamber  up  the  hillside  through 
knee-deep  snow  which  extended  almost  to  the  base  of  the  inscrip- 
tions and  formed  an  artificial  terrace  under  the  lower  edge. 

The  position  of  the  rock  is  such  that  the  tablets  face  directly 
east.  The  niches  are  rectangular  in  shape,  measuring  about  five 
feet  by  eight  and  a  half,  and  sunk  about  a  foot  deep  in  the  rock. 
The  inscription  of  Darius  is  in  the  niche  to  the  left  and  is 
slightly  higher  "than  the  Xerxes  tablet.  Both  are  about  of  the 
same  size  and  proportions  and  both  show  signs  of  weathering  in 
places,  for  the  rain  and  melting  snow  have  proved  destructive 
to  the  stone,  despite  the  fact  that  the  framework  of  the  recess 
serves  somewhat  to  protect  it.  The  Darius  inscription  has 
1  See,  for  example,  Numbers  35.  6,  11-15  ;  Deuteronomy  4.  41-43. 


THE  GANJ  NAMAH  INSCRIPTIONS  IN  WINTER 


KJI 


THE  WORD  'GOD'  (BAGA)  IN  ANCIENT  PERSIAN  CUNEIFORM  LETTERS 


THE   GANJ  NAM  AH  INSCRIPTIONS  171 

suffered  most.  A  crack  runs  through  it  from  top  to  bottom  on 
the  left,  or  southern,  side  and  broadens  out  as  it  nears  the  lower 
ledge  till  it  becomes  a  fissure  almost  five  inches  wide  and  thus 
destroys  several  letters.  Moss  was  growing  in  this  cleft  when 
I  saw  it  and  water  was  trickling  through  the  groove,  tending 
to  expand  the  crack  still  more.  A  small  crack  also  mars  the 
upper  part  of  the  third  column  of  this  tablet,  and  there  is  a 
defacement  in  the  lower  part  of  the  middle  column.  The 
socket  holes  noticeable  about  the  framework  of  both  recesses 
are  apparently  ancient  and  were  probably  intended  to  hold  the 
supports  for  the  scaffold  while  the  sculptor  was  at  work. 

The  Darius  inscription,  like  its  companion-piece,  is  arranged 
in  three  columns,  written  respectively  in  Old  Persian,  Susian 
(Neo-Elamitic),  and  Babylonian.  The  columns  are  clearly  sepa- 
rated from  each  other  by  a  narrow  space  that  looks  like  a  per- 
pendicular band,  and  the  lines  of  the  inscription  are  sharply 
marked  off  by  narrow  grooves  about  four  inches  (10  cm.)  apart. 
Each  column  contains  twenty  lines  of  text.  The  height  of  the 
cuneiform  letters  themselves  is  between  2-|  in.  and  2J  in.  (be- 
tween 6  cm.  and  7  cm.).  The  width  of  the  first  column  is  44^ 
in.  (113  cm.),  of  the  second,  29  in.  (77.5  cm.),  and  of  the  third 
26|  in.  (68  cm.).1  The  letters  of  the  inscription  may  perhaps 
best  be  likened  in  shape  to  horseshoe  nails  ;  the  carving  is 
in  general  clear  and  bold,  and  the  words  are  perfectly  legible, 
with  the  few  exceptions  caused  by  the  cracks  to  which  allusion 
has  been  made.  The  first  word  in  the  Persian  column,  baga, 
the  word  for  ;  God,'  looks  nearly  as  in  my  drawing  reproduced 
on  the  accompanying  page. 

More  interesting  than  such  technical  details  and  measure- 
ments is  a  statement  regarding  the  contents  of  this  inscrip- 
tion, which  begins  Baga  vazraka  Auramazda,  hya  imam  bumim 
add,  hya  avam  asmdnam  add,  etc.,  and  may  be  translated  as 
follows  :  — 

1  For  assistance  in  making  the  meas-  inscription,  I  am  indebted  to  Rev. 
urements  while  I  was  examining  the  N.  L.  Euwer  of  Hamadan. 


172  HAMADAN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

t(  A  great  god  is  Auramazda,  who  created  this  earth,  who  created 
yonder  heaven,  who  created  man,  who  made  Peace  for  man,  who  made 
Darius  king,  the  one  king  of  many,  the  one  ruler  of  many.  I  am 
Darius,  the  Great  King,  the  King  of  Kings,  King  of  the  countries 
which  have  many  peoples,  King  of  the  great  earth  even  to  afar,  the 
son  of  Hystaspes,  the  Achsemenian.' l 

The  inscription  of  Xerxes  by  the  side  of  this  is  precisely 
identical  with  it  in  contents  except  that  the  name  of  Xerxes 
is  substituted  for  that  of  Darius  throughout  the  tablet.  The 
first,  or  Persian,  column  in  this  table  is  slightly  marred  near 
the  top,  and  a  crack,  beginning  in  the  eighth  line  of  the  second 
column  and  running  nearly  to  the  eighteenth  line  of  the  third, 
slightly  damages  several  words.  In  width  the  first  column  is 
46  in.  (116.5  cm.),  the  second,  27J  in.  (70  cm.),  the  third,  25 
in.  (65.5  cm.),  and,  as  in  the  other  inscription,  each  column  has 
twenty  lines  of  text,  the  letters  being  nearly  of  the  same  size  as 
in  the  Darius  inscription. 

In  addition  to  their  historic  value  there  is  a  special  interest 
attached  to  these  two  tablets  of  Darius  and  Xerxes,  from  the 
standpoint  of  importance  in  deciphering  cuneiform  records. 
They  are  the  two  tablets  that  gave  the  key  to  the  English 
decipherer,  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  whose  work  contributed  most 
to  placing  cuneiform  studies  in  general  on  a  firm  foundation. 
In  the  modern  Persian  tongue  G-anj  Ndmah  means  4  Treasure- 
Story,'  and  the  natives  call  the  sculptured  tablets  so  because 
they  imagine  that  a  secret  of  some  hidden  treasure  is  concealed 
in  them  and  that  this  will  be  revealed  to  the  one  who  shall 
be  able  to  decipher  them.  This  fiction  has  proved  to  be  a 
fact,  though  in  a  different  way.  The  stone  has  been  forced 
to  tell  its  story  of  hidden  riches  in  the  realm  of  history  and 
has  handed  over  the  key  which  the  great  decipherer  used  when 

1  Dar.  Alv.  1-20.     For  translitera-  1893  (containing  also  a  bibliography, 

tion  of  the  Persian  text  of  this,  see  p.  6)  ;  Spiegel,  Die,  Altpersischen  Keil- 

Weissbach  and  Bang,  Die  Altpersischen  inschriften,  pp.  46,  64,  Leipzig,  1881. 

Keilinschriften,   pp.  36,    42,   Leipzig,  See  also  pp.  175-185,  below. 


RECORDS   OF  DARIUS  AND   XERXES  173 

he  translated  the  rock  records  of  King  Darius  at  Behistan  and 
thus  unlocked  many  treasures  of  the  past. 

Scarcely  a  hundred  paces  distant  from  the  tablets  of  Darius 
and  Xerxes,  but  around  the  spur  to  the  right  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  overlooking  the  gully  through  which  the  stream  flows, 
are  two  small  niches.  They  are  blank,  without  the  trace  of  a 
single  letter,  but  they  appear  to  have  been  prepared  to  receive 
short  inscriptions.  One  of  these  recesses  is  cut  at  a  consider- 
able slant,  shaped  like  a  rhomboid,  the  other  is  a  narrow  paral- 
lelogram carved  vertically  so  that  it  looks  almost  like  a  small 
window  in  the  rock.  How  these  panels  were  to  have  been 
filled  fancy  alone  can  surmise.1 

On  the  road  homeward  from  the  Ganj  Namah  I  stopped  to 
examine  the  site  of  some  ruins  on  a  high  ridge  called  that  of 
the  Nakdrah  Khdnah,  or  '  Band  Tower,'  about  two  miles  distant 
from  the  city.  The  outlines  of  a  structure  which  the  people 
name  the  Bury,  'Tower,'  can  be  clearly  made  out  in  spite  of 
its  razed  condition.  Fragments  of  bricks  mark  the  walls  of 
a  building  which  the  guide  termed  the  '  Governor's  House,'  a 
title  commonly  given  by  the  Persians  to  the  ruins  of  any  large 
edifice  that  looks  as  if  it  might  have  been  used  officially.  The 
remnants  of  a  circular  tank  or  reservoir  (lioz),  whose  thick 
walls  of  red  brick  were  set  in  a  very  durable  mortar,  could  also 
be  traced,  and  there  were  evidences,  besides,  of  a  terraced 
approach  to  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and  no  doubt  the  pick  and 
spade,  if  used,  would  reveal  more  and  tell  something  perhaps  of 
the  history  of  these  crumbled  remains. 

The  view  of  Hamadan  from  this  height,  overlooking  the 
plain  of  many  colors,  repaid  me  for  the  ascent,  if  nothing  else 
did,  for  it  presented  the  distant  city  to  me  in  still  another  light. 
The  Musallah,  once  crowned  with  walls,  stood  out  clear  to  the 

1  There  is  also  a  cave  in  the  moun-  believed  to  create  wind  for  threshing 

tains  in  this  same  vicinity,  about  two  grain    (this  information  I  owe  to  Mr. 

miles  south  of  Hamadan,  and  likewise  H.  L.  Rabino  of  Kermanshah),  but  I 

a  '  windstone,'  which,when  shaken,  is  did  not  see  either  of  these. 


174  HAMAD  AN,    THE  ANCIENT  ECBATANA 

view,  but  looked  barren  and  desolate.  Fine  gardens,  which 
afford  a  delightful  resort  for  an  afternoon  in  the  suburbs, 
especially  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Armenian  village  of  Sheverin, 
border  the  town.  The  domes  of  the  shrines  of  the  Imdmzadahs, 
or  Moslem  saints,  tell  how  the  newer  religion  has  supplanted 
the  old  religion  of  Zoroastrianism,  and  the  minaret  of  the 
'Friday  Mosque,'  Masjid-i  Jum^ah,  points  to  the  fact  that 
the  older  worship  has  given  place  to  a  newer.  As  I 
rode  back  through  the  busy  streets,  all  astir  with  life  and 
activity,  and  fully  alert  to  the  interests  of  the  present,  I  could 
not  help  thinking  that,  despite  its  three  thousand  years,  Hama- 
dan  is  still  youthful  in  spirit  as  in  appearance,  even  though 
reft  of  the  magnificence  which  once  made  the  city  the  boasted 
pride  of  Media. 

'  Where's  the  wisdom-hoary  sage 

Shall  unriddle  us  this  page  ? 

Temples  toppled  from  their  base, 

Victor  race  o'errunning  race, 

Yet,  within  the  ancient  place, 

Mirth,  and  love  of  maid  and  man, 

Round  the  walls  of  Hamadan.' 


CHAPTER   XIII 
THE  ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS   OF  THE   GREAT   PERSIAN    KINGS 

*  Sermons  in  stones/ 

—  SHAKSPERE,  As  You  Like  It,  2.  1.  17. 

THE  Bible  refers  to  4  the  book  of  chronicles  of  the  kings  of 
Media  and  Persia,' 1  but  those  documents  written  on  perishable 
parchment  were  not  the  only  records  which  the  Persian  mon- 
archs,  Cyrus,  Darius,  Xerxes,  and  Art'axerxes  caused  to  be 
made  of  their  deeds  and  of  memorable  events  in  their  reigns. 
I  refer  to  the  cuneiform  records,  covering  a  period  of  nearly 
two  centuries  (B.C.  541-340),  which  the  Achsemenian  kings 
inscribed  upon  the  living  rocks.  These  documents  in  stone 
have  defied  the  ravages  of  time,  in  part  at  least,  and  preserved 
for  the  present  and  the  future  an  account  of  events  long  past, 
many  of  which  would  otherwise  have  been  buried  in  oblivion. 

By  far  the  most  important  of  these  inscriptions  is  the  great 
inscription  of  Darius,  carved  far  up  on  the  mountain  side  of  the 
Behistan  rock.  Next  in  interest  and  value  are  those  which 
the  same  monarch  caused  to  be  chiselled  on  the  palace  walls 
and  platform  at  Persepolis,  as  well  as  around  his  tomb  at 
Naksh-i  Rustam.  The  portals  and  pillared  halls  of  Xerxes 
and  Artaxerxes  at  Persepolis,  though  in  ruins,  contain  also 
short  inscriptions  left  by  these  kings,  and  a  sculptured  monolith 
near  the  tomb  of  Cyrus  the  Great  at  Pasargadse  was  inscribed 
with  four  words  from  the  lips  of  the  great  king  himself.  Be- 
sides these,  there  are  tablets  of  Darius  and  Xerxes  on  Mount 
Alvand  near  Hamadan,  which  I  have  already  described,  and 
additional  inscriptions  of  the  Achsemenians  are  found  at  Susa 

i  Esther  10.  2,  cf.  6.  1. 
175 


176      ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS   OF   THE   GREAT  PERSIAN  KINGS 

in  southwestern  Persia,  at  Kerman  in  the  southeast,  at  Van  in 
Armenia,  and  even  at  Suez  in  Egypt.1 

We  owe  to  travellers  our  earliest  direct  knowledge  of  the 
Acheemenian  inscriptions  and  of  the  places  where  they  are 
found.  The  list  begins  with  the  Venetian  envoy  Josafa 
Barbaro  in  the  fifteenth  century  and  ends  with  the  scholarly 
Niebuhr  in  the  eighteenth,  whose  more  accurate  copies  of  some 
of  the  inscriptions  at  Persepolis  gave  a  basis  for  students  to 
work  upon.2  But  up  to  the  year  1802  no  Daniel  had  been 
found  to  interpret  the  mysterious  handwriting  on  the  wall, 
although  scholars  were  generally  agreed  that  the  inscriptions 
owed  their  origin  to  the  Achsemenian  kings.  It  was  the 
German  schoolmaster  and  philologist  Grotefend  who  first 
solved  the  mystery  of  the  cuneiform  writing,  and  to  him  be- 
longs the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  decipher  the  Old  Persian 
inscriptions.  Attracted  to  the  subject  by  reason  of  his  classical 
interests,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  cuneiform  problem  with 
the  enthusiasm  that  marks  a  scholar,  and  the  story  of  how  he 
deciphered  the  characters,  letter  by  letter,  reads  like  a  chapter 
in  a  novel.  Placing  side  by  side  two  of  the  shorter  Persepoli- 
tan  tablets,  which  he  assumed  to  be  Achsemenian  records,  he 
made  the  shrewd  conjecture  that  one  of  the  words  which  was 
most  often  repeated  was  the  name  for  king  and  that  the  king's 
name  preceded  it.  In  this  manner,  by  means  of  a  number  of 
careful  comparisons  and  scholarly  deductions,  he  was  able  to 
spell  out  the  name  of  Darius,  of  his  father  Hystaspes,  and  of 
his  son  Xerxes.  The  results  of  these  investigations  he  laid 

1  With  regard  to  the  location  of  the  bach   and   Bang,    Die   altpers.    Ke.il- 

inscriptions,  the  history  of  their  de-  inschr.,  Leipzig,  1893  ;  Spiegel,  Die  alt- 

cipherment,    editions    of    texts    and  pers.  Keilinschr.,  2d  ed.,  Leipzig,  1881; 

translations,  see    Rogers,   History  of  Tolman,     Old    Persian    Inscriptions, 

Babylonia  and  Assyria,  1.  1-83,  New  New  York,  1893. 

York,    1901  ;    Booth,    Discovery    and  2  For  a    detailed    account    of    the 

Decipherment   of  the    Trilingual   In-  earlier  travellers  and  investigators  of 

scriptions,  London,  1902;  Weissbach,  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  see  the  books 

Die  altpersischen   Keilinschriften,    in  by  Rogers  and  by  Booth  referred  to 

Grundr.  iran.  Philol.  2.  64-74  ;  Weiss-  in  the  preceding  note. 


**% 


THE  ROCK  OF  BEHISTAN  FROM  THE  SOUTH 
(From  Rawlinson) 


VIEW  OF  THE  BEHISTAN  ROCK  FROM  THE  UPPER  END 
(Sketched  from  a  photograph  by  the  author) 


GROTEFEND    THE  FIRST  DECIPHERER  177 

before  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Gottingen,  September  4, 
1802,  and  thus  founded  the  science  of  cuneiform  decipherment. 
The  key  to  the  riddle  having  at  last  been  discovered,  other 
scholars  continued  the  work  begun  by  Grotefend,  so  that  we 
are  able  to-day  to  read  all  the  Persian  inscriptions  and  also  to 
translate  the  parallel  versions  of  them  in  Elamitic  and  Baby- 
lonian.1 But  foremost  among  the  contributors  to  the  science 
of  cuneiform  interpretation,  whether  German,  French,  or  Dan- 
ish, was  the  noted  Englishman  Rawlinson,  who  was  a  soldier 
as  well  as  a  scholar.  To  Major  Henry  Creswicke  Rawlinson, 
afterwards  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  Privy  Councillor,  belongs  the 
honor  of  deciphering  the  Ganj  Namah  tablets  at  Hamadan,  and 
the  glory  of  being  the  first  to  ascend  the  Behistan  rock  and 
copy  the  inscription  of  Darius.2 

The  Behistan  Mountain,  l&ayio-Tavov  "Opo?,  or  Bisitun,  as  the 
natives  call  it,  had  been  known  from  times  of  antiquity,  but  no 
one  understood  the  meaning  of  the  inscribed  tablets  or  could 
identify  the  dozen  or  more  human  figures  sculptured  above 
them  on  the  inaccessible  side  of  the  rock.  Diodorus  Siculus 
in  the  first  century  B.C.  attributed  them  to  Semiramis.3  Ya- 
kut, twelve  centuries  later,  has  little  to  say  about  Behistan, 
except  to  allude  to  the  equestrian  statue  at  the  base,  which  is 
now  known,  even  in  its  mutilated  condition,  to  be  of  Parthian 
origin4  (about  A.D.  50).  The  first  European  to  call  attention 
to  Bisitun  seems  to  have  been  the  French  traveller  Otter, 
about  the  year  1734 ;  Olivier  noticed  it  also  some  sixty  years 

1  It  is  appropriate  to  mention  the      account  of  his  work  in  Rogers,  lifts- 
names  of  the  earlier  workers  in  cunei-      tory,  pp.  63-73,  and  Booth,  Discovery, 
form  philology,  such  as  de  Sacy,  Saint-      pp.  102-114. 

Martin,  Rask,  Burnouf,  Lassen,  Beer,  3  See  p.  189,  below. 

Jacquet,    Rich,    Westergaard,    Holtz-  *  See  p.  209,  below.  Yakut,  pp.  124- 

mann,  Oppert,  Me"nant,  and  Spiegel,  125,  speaks  of  the  finely  carved  horse, 

without  including  names  of  the  present  which  shows  that  he  gave  his  attention 

time.  only  to  the  Gotarzes  sculpture  below, 

2  Consult  the  interesting  biography  which  is  now  destroyed.     He  calls  the 
by  his  brother,  Canon  George  Rawl in-  horse    'Shabdiz,'    another    statue    of 
son,  Memoir  of  Sir  Henry   Rawlin-  which   he  describes  at  Tak-i  Bostan, 
son,  London,  1898,  and  compare  the  cf.  p.  224,  below. 

N 


178      ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS   OF   THE    GREAT  PERSIAN  KINGS 

later  ;  Jaubert  visited  it ;  and  Gardanne  fancied  that  the  sculp- 
tures might  represent  the  twelve  apostles.1  Ker  Porter,  in 
1818,  conjectured  that  the  bas-reliefs  were  portraits  of  King 
Shalmaneser  and  two  of  his  generals,  together  with  the  ten  cap- 
tive tribes  of  Israel.2  But  no  one  had  examined  the  carvings 
in  detail  or  copied  the  inscriptions  below  and  beside  them. 
The  danger  of  climbing  the  rock  proved  too  great  a  barrier. 
Kinneir,  in  1810,  did  not  attempt  the  task  ;  Ker  Porter  climbed 
halfway  up  and  sketched  the  sculptures,  but  did  not  reach  the 
ledge  to  copy  the  inscriptions,  and  in  speaking  of  the  danger  of 
the  ascent  he  says  that  4  at  no  time  can  it  be  attempted  without 
great  personal  risk.'3  It  remained  for  Rawlinson  to  accom- 
plish the  feat,  in  the  year  1835. 

Rawlinson  was  at  that  time  a  young  military  officer,  twenty- 
five  years  old,  and  employed  in  training  native  recruits  for  the 
army  of  the  Shah.  While  stationed  at  Hamadan  he  had  learned 
to  decipher  the  cuneiform  characters,4  and  he  was  now  given  an 
excellent  opportunity  to  examine  the  Behistan  rock  by  receiv- 
ing an  appointment  from  the  Shah,  in  1835,  which  transferred 
him  to  Kermanshah,  some  twenty  miles  distant  from  the  in- 
scription. He  made  the  best  of  his  opportunity,  and  at  risk  of 
life  and  limb  made  several  ascents  of  the  rock  in  the  next  two 
years,  1835-1837,  and  was  able  to  transcribe  the  first  column 
of  the  Persian  text  with  remarkable  exactness  and  prepare  it 
for  publication.  Nearly  ten  years  later,  in  1844,  after  active 
service  in  the  Afghan  war,  he  transcribed  the  rest  and  took  a 
copy  also  of  the  Elamitic  version  (variously  called  Median, 
Scythian,  Neo-Susian).  He  supplemented  this,  in  1847,  by  a 
revision  of  the  entire  text  and  a  reproduction  of  the  Babylonian 

1  See   Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  154,      before  his  time  and  that  scholars  were 
and  Booth,  Discovery,  pp.  82,  105.  at  work  on  the  texts,  but  it  is  clear 

2  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  159-162.          from    his    later   correspondence  with 
8  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  158.  European  savants  how  much  he  had 
4  See  p.  172,  above.     While  working      been  able  to  accomplish  independently. 

on  the  Ganj  Namah  inscription  Raw-      See  his  account  in  The  Athenaeum,  no. 
linson    knew    that    the    key    to    the      2976,  p.  693,  Nov.  8,  1884. 
cuneiform  had  been  discovered  long 


RAWLINSON'S   GREAT  ACHIEVEMENT 


179 


version,  which  he  secured  through  the  help  of  a  wild  Kurdish 
lad,  who  performed  the  perilous  feat  of  taking  a  paper  squeeze 
of  that  almost  inaccessible  inscription.1 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  great  importance  of 
Rawlinson's  work  and  the  value  of  later  contributions  based 
upon  it,  as  they  are  well  known  to  scholars  ;  2  but  Rawlinson's 
copy  was  made  more  than  half  a  century  ago,  and  there  had 
been  no  opportunity  to  test  its  accuracy,  as  he  was  the  only  one 


1  Rawlinson's  account  of  the  lad's 
dangerous  climb  may  be  found  in 
Archceologia,  34  (1850),  pp.  73-75,  re- 
printed in  George  Rawlinson,  Memoir, 
p.  156,  n.  1.  Rawlinson's  own  devo- 
tion to  the  work  on  the  Behistan  rock 
may  be  judged  from  what  he  wrote  more 
than  forty  years  later  in  The  Athe- 
nceum,  no.  2976,  p.  593,  Nov.  8,  1884, 
from  which  I  make  a  selection:  '  Dur- 
ing my  service  as  a  military  officer  in 
Persia,  from  1833  to  1839,  my  visits  to 
the  rock  of  Behistun  were  few  and 
hurried.  On  these  occasions  I  worked 
hard,  but  the  difficulties  were  so  great 
that  I  had  only  succeeded  in  copying 
one  half  of  the  Persian  text  of  the  in- 
scription (the  Median  and  Babylonian 
texts  being  entirely  untouched)  when 
I  was  compelled  to  leave  the  country 
in  order  to  take  part  in  the  first  Afghan 
war.  At  the  close  of  that  war  in  1843  I 
was  offered,  as  a  reward  for  my  services, 
the  highest  political  employment  and 
an  assured  career  in  India  ;  but  I  had 
not  forgotten  Behistun.  It  had  become 
the  ambition  of  my  Iif6  to  carry  on  my 
cuneiform  researches,  and  especially 
to  work  out  the  Babylonian  puzzle ; 
and  accordingly,  to  the  astonishment 
of  my  friends,  I  deliberately  declined 
the  brilliant  prospect  opened  out  to  me 
in  India,  and  elected  to  return  to  what 
was  called  "  exile  "  at  Baghdad,  where 
for  twelve  weary  years  —  broken  by 


only  one  brief  visit  to  England  —  I  re- 
sided, in  an  exhausting  climate,  cut  off 
from  all  society,  sparingly  supplied 
with  the  comforts  of  civilization,  and, 
in  fact,  doing  penance  in  order  to  attain 
a  great  literary  object.  During  this 
period  of  probation,  on  two  occasions 
—  in  1844  and  1847—1  again  visited 
the  rock  of  Behistun,  riding  1000  miles 
for  the  purpose  and  disbursing  above 
1000  I.  from  my  own  funds  for  the  ex- 
penses of  the  expeditions.  I  will  not 
say  much  as  to  the  danger  or  difficulty 
of  ascending  the  rock  and  reaching  the 
upper  part  of  the  sculptures,  which  are 
some  500  feet  above  the  plain.  I  did 
not  think  much  at  the  time  of  the  risk 
to  life  and  limb,  but  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  Messrs.  Coste  and  Flandin, 
having  been  deputed  to  the  spot  by  the 
French  Government  with  express  in- 
structions to  copy  the  inscriptions,  re- 
turned re  infectd,,  declaring  the  sculp- 
tures to  be  absolutely  inaccessible ; 
and  I  may  further  add  that  although 
there  is  still  something  to  be  copied 
and  much  to  be  verified,  I  have  never 
heard  but  of  one  traveller  accomplish- 
ing the  ascent  since  the  period  of  my 
last  visit.1 

2  Rawlinson's  epoch-making  work 
was  published  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Eoyal  Asiatic  Society,  10. 1-349,  Lon- 
don, 1847. 


180      ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS   OF   THE   GREAT  PERSIAN  KINGS 

who  had  studied  the  rock  itself.  Accordingly,  one  purpose  of 
my  journey  was  to  make  the  ascent,  if  possible,  and  examine 
some  of  the  mooted  passages  in  the  cuneiform  text.  How  far 
I  was  able  to  accomplish  this,  in  the  limited  time  at  my  disposal, 
will  be  recorded  in  the  next  chapter. 

Before  giving  an  account  of  the  contents  of  the  inscriptions, 
it  may  be  well  to  give  some  idea  of  the  bas-reliefs  that  are 
carved  above  them  on  a  surface  over  twenty  feet  in  length  and 
more  than  ten  feet  in  height,  and  to  tell  whom  the  sculptures 
are  intended  to  represent. 

The  king,  who  is  the  principal  figure  in  the  group,  is  Darius 
himself,  and  the  image  is  majestic  in  its  bearing  and  carved  in 
bold  relief.  In  his  left  hand  Darius  holds  a  bow,  and  he 
raises  his  right  hand  as  he  pronounces  sentence  of  doom  upon 
nine  captives  standing  before  him,  each  with  the  hands  tied 
behind  the  back  and  a  rope  about  the  neck.  Above  the  head  of 
each  of  the  captives,  but  below  the  prostrate  figure  and  on  the 
skirt  of  the  tunic  of  the  third  prisoner,  is  the  name  of  the  rebel 
king  whose  effigy  is  given,  and  in  each  case  the  nature  of  the 
rebellion  and  the  place  where  it  started  is  recorded  in  a  short 
tablet  and  a  word  is  added  to  the  effect  that  the  pretender 
4  lied '  in  making  his  claims  to  the  throne.1 

The  names  of  some  of  these  rebels,  like  Nadintabaira,  or 
Nadintu-Bel  of  Babylon,  we  know  also  from  other  sources,  and 
the  last  in  the  line  is  '  Skunka  the  Scythian,'  who  is  marked  by 
his  high  pointed  cap.  Beneath  the  feet  of  the  king  lies  a  tenth 
foe,  imploring  mercy  with  upstretched  hands,  but  trampled 
upon  by  the  stern  monarch.  This  fallen  enemy  is  Gaumata 
the  Magian,  otherwise  known  as  the  False  Smerdis,  who 
usurped  the  crown  upon  the  death  of  Cambyses,  under  pretense 
of  being  the  king's  brother,  but  was  unmasked  and  slain  by 
Darius  and  his  six  trusty  followers,  as  described  in  the  inscrip- 
tion itself  and  narrated  also  by  Herodotus. 

1  In  the  main  body  of  the  inscrip-  of  each  revolt,  and  the  battles  which 
tion  below  the  bas-reliefs  an  account  followed,  is  given. 


V     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


THE  KEBMAN  INSCRIPTION  OF  KING  DARIUS 
1.  The  Persian  Text 


THE   GRAND   INSCRIPTION   OF  BEHISTAN  181 

Directly  back  of  the  king  stands  his  quiver-bearer  and  cham- 
berlain, Aspachanah,  and  behind  the  latter  is  the  king's  spear- 
bearer,  Gaubruva,  if  we  may  assign  to  these  the  names  attached 
to  the  similar  figures  at  Naksh-i  Rustam  —  names  known  also 
from  the  Greek  sources  as  Gobryas  and  Aspathines.1  Above 
the  head  of  the  king  there  floats  a  winged  figure  of  the  god 
Auramazda,  who  presents  to  him  a  ring,  the  symbol  of  sover- 
eignty, and  adds  his  blessing  in  sanction  of  the  king's  deeds.2 
This  figure,  like  the  rest  of  the  sculptures,  shows  the  influence 
of  Assyro-Babylonian  art,  and  all  the  figures  are  very  robust 
and  stocky  in  build,  like  some  of  those  at  Persepolis.  The 
king  is  represented  as  heroic  in  size  in  contrast  to  the  captives, 
who  appear  dwarfed  beside  him. 

The  position  of  the  inscriptions  with  reference  to  the  bas- 
reliefs  may  next  be  noted.  The  Persian  tablets  are  directly 
below  the  sculptured  group  ;  the  Elamitic  version  is  carved 
around  the  ledge  on  the  lower  left-hand  side  and  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  reach ;  the  Babylonian  projects  over  this,  on  the  face  of 
the  scarped  rock  ;  and  supplementary  inscriptions  and  trans- 
lations are  carved  around  the  bas-reliefs  and  on  tablets  to  the 
right.  After  giving  these  details  we  may  turn  to  the  inscrip- 
tions themselves  and  their  contents. 

The  five  columns  of  the  Old  Persian  give  a  brief  history  of 
the  main  events  that  occurred  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign 
of  Darius.  They  are  carved  in  about  four  hundred  lines  of 
beautiful  cuneiform  writing,  on  polished  tablets,  and  are  sup- 
plemented by  versions  in  Elamitic  and  Babylonian,  which 
comprise  together  as  many  lines  more.  Darius  tells  in  brief 
form  how  he  became  king  4  by  the  grace  of  Auramazda '  — 
vashnd  Auramazddha  —  and  by  his  own  prowess,  and  he  re- 
counts the  battles  he  fought  and  the  victories  he  won  and 
how  many  revolts  he  had  to  crush  in  organizing  and  adminis- 

1  For  references,  see  Justi,  Ira-  also  Andreas,  in  Verhandl.  13.  Internat. 
nisches  Namenbuch,  pp.  46,  111  ;  Bar-  Orientalisten-Kongr.ip. 97, Leiden,  1904. 
tholomae,  Air.  Wb.  pp.  217,  482.  Cf.  2  See  Grundr.  iran.  Philol.  2.  631. 


182      ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS   OF   THE   GREAT  PERSIAN  KINGS 

tering  his  great  empire.  The  language  is  nearly  allied  to  that 
of  the  A  vesta,  and  the  style,  which  shows  the  influence  of  the 
Assyro-Babylonian  inscriptions,1  is  marked  by  a  dignity  and 
simplicity  that  is  suited  to  such  a  record,  despite  the  inevitable 
baldness  of  an  official  document  and  the  tendency  to  repetition 
which  characterizes  an  Oriental  communication.  'I  am  Daraya- 
vaush  (Darius),  the  Great  King,  the  King  of  Kings,  the  King 
of  Nations,  the  son  of  Vishtaspa,  the  Achsemenian '  —  such  are 
the  opening  words;  and  after  tracing  his  right  to  the  throne 
through  a  double  line  of  descent  and  enumerating  his  tribu- 
tary countries,  he  gives  a  notable  account  of  the  usurpation 
and  overthrow  of  Gaumata  the  Magian,  already  referred  to. 
Throughout  the  entire  five  columns  each  paragraph  that  deals 
with  a  new  subject  is  introduced  by  'Thus  saith  Darius  the 
King '  —  thdtiy  Ddrayavaush  khshdyathiya  —  which  lends  a  cer- 
tain formal  dignity  to  the  style  ;  and  a  religious  tone  is  im- 
parted to  the  edict  by  the  fervor  with  which  Darius  again  and 
again  attributes  his  successes  to  Auramazda.  This  is  particu- 
larly noticeable  in  the  fourth  column,  where  the  style  rises  to 
some  degree  of  literary  merit.  To  illustrate  what  I  mean  I 
shall  translate  a  portion  of  that  column,  as.  I  devoted  especial 
attention  to  it  during  the  time  which  I  spent  upon  the  rock. 
I  shall  follow  the  original  closely  in  my  rendering,  so  as  to 
convey  an  idea  of  the  inscriptional  style,  making  only  trifling 
modifications  for  the  sake  of  greater  intelligibility,  and  one  or 
two  slight  omissions  for  the  sake  of  brevity. 

Bh.  4.  33-36.  'Thus  saith  Darius  the  King:  Those  countries 
which  became  rebellious,  the  Lie  made  them  rebellious,  so  that  they 
deceived  the  people.2  Auramazda  deli vered  them  into  my  hand.' 

1See  Gray,   Stylistic  Parallels  be-  2The   word   drauga,    'Lie,   False- 

tween  the  Assyro-Bab.  and  OP.  Inscr.  hood,   Deceit,'   is  personified   in   the 

in  Am.   Journ.  Semit.  Lang.  17.  151-  inscriptions  and   used   almost   as  an 

159,  and  compare  my  article,  Persian  equivalent  of  Satan,  Fiend ;    see  my 

Literature,  in  Progress,  2.  35-55,  Chi-  article  in  JAOS.  21.  170. 
cago,  1896. 


OF  THE" 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE  KEEMAN  INSCRIPTION  OF  KING  DARIUS 
1.  The  Persian  Text 


CONTENTS   OF   THE  BEHISTAN  INSCRIPTIONS  183 

36-40.  '  Thus  saith  Darius  the  King :  Thou  who  shalt  be  king 
hereafter,  be  constantly  on  thy  guard  against  the  Lie.  The  man 
who  is  a  liar,  punish  him  well  with  punishment,  if  thou  thinkest 
"  my  country  must  be  firmly  established."  ' 

40-45.  '  Thus  saith  Darius  the  King :  That  which  I  have  done 
I  have  done  altogether  by  the  grace  of  Auramazda.  Thou  who  shalt 
hereafter  read  this  inscription,  let  that  which  hath  been  done  by  me 
appear  to  thee  true ;  hold  it  not  for  a  lie.  Thus  saith  Darius  the 
King  :  May  Auramazda  be  witness  that  it  is  true,  not  false ;  I  did  it 
altogether.' 

45-50.  'Thus  saith  Darius  the  King:  By  the  grace  of  Aura- 
mazda there  is  much  else,  besides,  done  by  me,  which  is  not  written 
in  this  inscription ;  on  this  account  is  it  not  written,  lest  that  which 
I  have  done  may  seem  exaggerated  to  him  who  shall  hereafter  read 
this  inscription,  and  may  not  appear  to  him  true  and  may  seem  to  be 
a  lie.  .  .  .J1 

52-59.  'Thus  saith  Darius  the  King:  Let  that  which  I  have 
done  appear  unto  thee  true,  as  it  is ;  therefore  conceal  it  not.  If  thou 
shalt  not  conceal  this  edict,  but  shalt  publish  it  to  the  people,  may 
Auramazda  be  a  friend  unto  thee,  and  may  thy  seed  be  multiplied, 
and  mayest  thou  live  long.  Thus  saith  Darius  the  King :  If  thou 
shalt  conceal  this  edict  and  shalt  not  publish  it  to  the  people,  may 
Auramazda  be  thy  slayer,  and  may  thy  seed  be  cut  off.' 

59-64.  '  Thus  saith  Darius  the  King :  That  which  I  have  done  I 
have  done  altogether  by  the  grace  of  Auramazda.  Auramazda,  and  the 
other  gods  that  be,  brought  aid  unto  me.  For  this  reason  did  Aura- 
mazda, and  the  other  gods  that  be,  bring  aid  unto  me,  because  I  was 
not  hostile,  nor  a  liar,  nor  a  wrong-doer,  neither  I  nor  my  family, 
but  according  to  Rectitude  have  I  ruled.' 2 

The  inscriptions  of  Xerxes  and  of  the  later  Artaxerxes  are 
hardly  more  than  reproductions  of  the  minor  tablets  of  Darius, 
formulaic  in  their  contents  and  mechanical  in  their  structure ; 
but  they  have  a  historical  and  philological  value,  and  are  inter- 
esting also  from  the  standpoint  of  religion,  because  the  inscrip- 
tions of  Artaxerxes  II  and  III  recognize  Mithra  and  Anahita  as 
divinities  by  the  side  of  Auramazda,  whereas  they  are  not  men- 

1  The  frank  simplicity  of  this  state-  2  For  the  difficulties  in  the  last  two 
ment  is  delightful.  lines,  see  pp.  203-207,  below. 


184      ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS   OF   THE   GREAT  PERSIAN  KINGS 

tioned  in  the  inscriptions  of  Darius,  although  perhaps  included 
in  4the  other  gods  that  be'  (aniyd  bagdha  tyaiy  hantiy).  Au- 
ramazda,  however,  is  still  the  supreme  head  of  the  world 
according  to  all  the  tablets :  4  A  great  god  is  Auramazda,  the 
greatest  of  the  gods,  he  who  created  this  earth,  who  created 
yonder  heaven,  who  created  man,  who  created  Peace  for  man, 
who  made  Xerxes  (or  Artaxerxes)  king.'1  But  in  general  the 
ring  of  the  metal  seems  less  true,  and  in  these  later  inscriptions 
the  language,  like  the  style,  shows  signs  of  decadence. 

Before  I  close  this  chapter  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  one 
small  inscription  of  Darius,  previously  known  but  not  easily 
accessible  in  the  cuneiform  characters.  It  is  preserved  at  the 
village  of  Maghan,  near  Kerman,  in  the  shrine  of  Nimat-ullah 
Vali,  founder  of  the  order  of  Nimat-ullah  dervishes,  but  its 
previous  history  is  unknown.  The  characters  are  carved  on 
three  faces  of  a  small  tetragonal  pyramid  of  dark  stone,  which 
is  about  4  inches  high  and  3J  inches  square  at  the  base,2  and 
therefore  a  little  larger  than  the  photographs  that  I  reproduce. 
The  photographs  were  kindly  sent  me  by  the  late  J.  C.  Van 
Roosbroeck,  Director  of  Persian  Customs  and  Post,  and  for- 
warded to  him  by  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  A.  Miller,  Russian  Consul 
at  Kerman.  The  contents  of  the  eight  lines  are  familiar  from 
other  inscriptions  of  Darius,  and  they  read  :  4 1  (am)  Darius, 
the  Great  King,  the  King  of  Kings,  the  King  of  Nations,  King 
of  this  Earth,  son  of  Vishtaspa,  the  Achsemenian.'  The  same 
lines  are  repeated  in  an  Elamitic  and  a  Babylonian  version.3 

It  may  be  said  in  conclusion  that,  viewed  as  a  whole,  the 
story  of  the  deciphering  of  the  cuneiform  records  is  one  of  the 
most  instructive  chapters  in  the  history  of  philological  research, 
and  the  achievements  of  Grotefend  and  his  successors  are  to  be 

1With   regard    to    the    expression  Bang,  Altpers.  Keilinschr.  pp.  7,  38, 

Peace  (Tkiyati)  cf.  Isaiah  45.  7,  and  see  and  Gobineau,  Traite,  1.  323  seq.;  also 

JAOS.  21.  166.  Bartold,    Historico-geographical    Ac- 

2  Approximately  10  cm.  by  9  cm.  count  of  Iran,  pp.  94-95  (in  Russian), 

8  For  the  text  of  this  inscription  St.  Petersburg,  1903. 
in  transliteration,  see  Weissbach  and 


THE  KERMAN  INSCRIPTION  OF  KING  DARIUS 
3.  The  Babylonian  Text 


OTHER   CUNEIFORM  RECORDS  185 

reckoned  among  the  memorable  accomplishments  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Let  us  hope  that  those  blessings  may  always 
come  true  which  Darius  invokes  in  the  inscription  itself  upon 
those  who  preserve  the  inscription  and  make  it  known  to  the 
people,  for  Auramazda  shall  be  their  friend. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE    GREAT    BEHISTAN   ROCK  AND   AN    ASCENT   TO    READ 
THE   CUNEIFORM  RECORDS  OF  DARIUS1 

'  I  wol  yow  all  thys  shap  devyse 
—  and  site,  and  all  the  wyse 
How  I  gan  to  this  place  aproche 
That  stood  upon  so  high  a  roche 
Hyer  stant  there  noon  in  Spayne, 
But  up  I  clomb  with  alle  payne.' 

—  CHAUCER,  House  of  Fame,  3.  23-28. 

EASTER  MONDAY,  April  13,  1903,  will  remain  for  me  a  mem- 
orable date  in  the  calendar,  for  on  that  morning,  after  four  days 
on  horseback  from  Hamadan,  I  caught  my  first  glimpse  of  the 
mountain  of  Behistan  and  the  great  inscription  of  Darius.  For 
miles  before  one  reaches  it  the  huge  mass  of  rock  is  constantly 
in  sight,  lifting  its  giant  head  seventeen  hundred  feet  above  the 
plain;  and  several  times  in  the  distance  my  eager  eyes  were  mis- 
taken in  fancying  I  could  see  from  afar  the  smoothed  surface 
where  the  Great  King's  edict  is  inscribed.  This  was  an  error,  for 
in  approaching  by  the  Hamadan  road  one  must  round  the  north- 
east corner  of  the  mountain  before  the  inscription  can  be  seen. 
It  was  shortly  before  noon,  or,  to  be  more  accurate,  11.25  A.M., 
when  my  caravan  halted  at  the  base  of  Bisitun,  as  the  Persians 
call  it,  and  far  above  I  could  see  the  inscription  and  the  sculp- 
tured figures  which  the  natives  term  4the  Nine  Dervishes.' 

1  Reprinted  with  some  additions  and  harahya  ;  the  notice  of  the  Gotarzes 
minor  corrections  from  my  report  in  sculpture ;  and  the  account  of  the 
JAOS.  24.  77-95.  The  additions  are  :  monolith  at  the  close  of  the  chapter. 
1.  61,  patiyavahyaiy ;  2.  61,  Qauravd- 

186 


FIRST   VIEW   OF  THE   GREAT  ROCK  187 

With  all  I  had  read  about  Behistan,  with  all  I  had  heard  about 
it,  and  with  all  I  had  thought  about  it  beforehand,  I  had  not 
the  faintest  conception  of  the  Gibraltar-like  impressiveness  of 
this  rugged  crag  until  I  came  into  its  Titan  presence  and  felt 
the  grandeur  of  its  sombre  shadow  and  towering  frame.  Snow 
and  clouds  capped  its  peaks  at  the  time,  and  birds  innumerable 
were  soaring  around  it  aloft  or  hovering  near  the  place  where 
the  inscriptions  are  hewn  into  the  rock.  There  as  I  looked 
upward,  I  could  see,  more  than  three  hundred  feet  above  the 
ground,  the  bas-relief  of  the  great  king,  Darius.  Prone  at 
his  feet  lay  Gaumata,  the  Magian  usurper,  who  had  seized  the 
throne  on  the  death  of  Cambyses.  In  front  of  Darius  stood 
the  row  of  captive  kings,  and  above  the  head  of  each  I  could 
discern  a  faint  trace  of  the  tablet  with  the  '  lie '  which  each 
had  uttered  in  his  false  claims  to  the  throne,  although  the 
letters  were  not  legible  at  such  a  distance.  My  memory 
recalled  the  story  of  each  of  these  rebel  lords,  and  I  could 
picture  the  torture  and  agonized  death  that  each  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  the  king. 

From  the  descriptions  I  had  read,  or  perhaps  from  the  mental 
picture  I  had  previously  formed  of  the  scene,  I  had  always 
fancied  that  the  inscriptions  and  the  sculptures  were  carved 
nearer  the  middle  of  the  mountain,  whose  general  contour  on 
this  side  runs  from  northeast  to  southwest.  Not  so.  They 
are  cut  high  up  in  the  side  of  a  steep  gorge  or  craggy  gully 
that  makes  a  deep  gash  in  the  face  of  the  rock  and  extends 
three  hundred  feet  downward  to  the  plain  beneath.  But 
before  proceeding  further  with  the  description,  it  may  be  well 
to  turn  to  the  middle  part  of  the  mountain  front  itself  and 
examine  its  appearance. 

As  one  faces  the  great  Behistan  rock,  the  striking  feature 
that  catches  the  eye  is  a  huge  space  carved  near  the  middle 
of  the  base,  but  left  entirely  bare  of  an  inscription.  Even  Ker 
Porter  in  his  description  seems  to  have  given  less  attention 
than  it  deserves  to  this  magnificent  tabula  rasa,  the  more 


188  THE   GREAT  BEHISTAN  ROCK 

conspicuous  because  of  its  vacant,  wall-like  stare.1  It  must  have 
been  prepared  with  an  especial  design  of  recording  some  historic 
event,  as  I  felt  certain  after  devoting  part  of  an  afternoon  to  a 
study  of  it.  A  space  of  nearly  five  hundred  feet  in  length 
—  I  paced  it  off  —  and  over  a  hundred  feet  in  height  has  been 
cut  out  of  the  mountain  front  to  form  a  rocky  canvas  for  com- 
memorating some  record  of  importance.  The  idea  that  it  is 
due  to  mere  quarrying  vanishes  at  once  when  one  studies  the 
appearance  of  it  and  observes  the  evident  design.  Two  rocky 
ledges,  one  somewhat  higher  than  the  other,  are  cut  on  either 
side  to  furnish  a  means  of  nearer  access  to  the  mammoth  screen, 
while  the  overhanging  canopy  of  rock  forms  a  framework  above, 
and  a  terrace  of  earth  and  stones  offers  an  approach  to  the  place 
from  below.  Such  is  the  general  scheme  of  arrangement.2 

The  question  naturally  arises,  and  is  always  asked  by  those 
who  have  seen  the  great  blank  space:  4  When  and  by  whom  was 
it  cut,  what  was  its  purpose,  and  why  is  it  without  a  trace  of 
the  cuneiform  chronicler's  chisel  ?  '  To  this  inquiry  the  natives 
respond  by  saying  4it  is  the  work  of  Farhad.'  The  sentiment 
of  such  an  explanation  will  appeal  to  every  reader  of  Nizami's 
romantic  epopee ;  he  will  recall  the  tragic  story  of  the  enam- 
ored sculptor  and  the  lovely  Shirin,  and  he  will  trace  in  fancy 
the  marks  of  the  ambitious  wooer's  steel  or  hear  the  ring  of  the 
inallet  as  the  rock  yielded  to  his  herculean  blows.3  But  the 

1  See  Ker  Porter,   Travels,  2.  149-  cit.  p.  287).     Mr.  E.  L.  Mitford  (From 
162.  England  to  Ceylon  Forty  Years  Ago, 

2  When  I  gained  access  to  my  libra-  London,  1884)  believed  that  it  was  de- 
ry  I  found  that  M.  de  Morgan  (Mis-  signed  '  apparently  for  the  back  wall  of 
sion  Scientifique,  4.  286-289)  has  given  some  extensive  building,'  and  he  adds 
an  elaborate  description  of  the  probable  that  *  the  only  sculpture  on  the  scarp 
manner  in  which  the  vast  surface  was  was  a  single  female  mask.1     If  this 
prepared  by  the  stone-cutters,  and  he  still  exists,  I  failed  to  see  it,  and  I  am 
shows  how  the  markings  on  the  stones  inclined  to  think  that  the  signs  in  the 
which  have  been  thrown  down  may  have  fallen     stones    which    are    scattered 
been  made.     He  is  of  the  opinion  that  about  are  mason's  marks  rather  than 
the  surface  was  prepared  to  receive  an  characters  of  an  alphabet.     But  I  may 
inscription,  *  qui,  peut-e"tre,  devait  rela-  be  wrong. 

ter  tous  les  faits de  1'histoire  perse '  (op.  8  See  p.  226,  below. 


A   HUGE  SPACE  LEFT  BLANK  189 

classicist  at  the  same  moment  will  remember  a  passage  in  Dio- 
dorus  Siculus,  which  tells  how  Semiramis  visited  c  Bagistanon,' 
encamped  near  by,  built  a  4  paradise '  on  the  spot,  and  com- 
memorated the  occasion  by  an  inscription  on  the  mountain. 
The  quotation  from  this  Greek  author,  who  lived  in  the  first 
century  before  the  Christian  era,  is  worth  repeating  for  the 
sake  of  comparison  :  — 

<  When  Semiramis  had  brought  to  an  end  the  works  upon  which 
she  was  engaged,  she  set  out  for  Media  with  a  large  military  force 
and,  halting  near  the  mountain  called  Bagistan,  pitched  her  camp 
there.  She  made  a  park,  twelve  furlongs  in  circumference,  in  the 
plain,  which  has  a  great  fountain  that  waters  all  the  cultivated  area 
round  about.  The  mountain  of  Bagistan  is  sacred  to  Zeus,  and  on 
the  side  toward  the  garden  it  has  steep  rocks  extending  upward  to 
the  height  of  seventeen  furlongs.  On  the  lower  part  of  this  she 
caused  her  own  image  to  be  carved,  with  a  hundred  lance-bearers 
standing  round  about  her.  She  inscribed  likewise  in  Syriac  charac- 
ters (Svptbis  ypa/A/xao-i)  on  the  rock,  that  "  Semiramis  had  ascended 
from  the  plain  to  the  top  of  the  height  by  laying,  one  upon  the  other, 
the  packs  of  the  beasts  of  burden  that  followed  her." ' 1 

That  we  have  in  this  passage  a  direct  allusion  to  our  rock  is 
undoubted.  The  only  question  is  whether  the  story  which 
Diodorus  gives  is  to  be  applied  to  the  unlettered  space  or  to  the 
familiar  sculptures  and  inscriptions  of  Darius.  The  difficulty 
with  the  former  application  is  the  fact  that  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  huge  central  table  does  not  reveal  the  slightest  trace 
of  its  ever  having  been  inscribed.  I  studied  it  with  great  atten- 
tion, having  in  mind  the  Diodorus  passage,  and  I  asked  also  the 
judgment  of  my  native  servant,  who  was  very  intelligent  in 
such  matters  ;  but  I  could  not  convince  myself  that  this  portion 
of  the  rock  had  ever  been  engraved,  or  that  an  inscription  had 

1  Diodorus  Siculus,  Hist.  Lib.  2.  13,  Five  Great  Monarchies,  3.  31,  n.  18. 

tr.    Booth,    1.    110.      The    statement  Yakut,  p.  125,  says  that  Behistan  is 

'seventeen    furlongs,    or    stadia,'    i.e.  so  high  that   'its  summit   cannot  be 

above  10,000  feet,  is  greatly  exagger-  reached,'   which  is  also  exaggerated, 

ated,  as  is  noticed  also  by  G.  Rawlinson,  although  the  peak  is  very  lofty. 


190  THE   GREAT  BE  HIS  TAN  ROCK 

been  obliterated.  If  one  were  inclined  to  theorize  and  to  build 
up  a  fanciful  hypothesis  on  flimsy  foundations,  it  would  be  easy 
to  suggest  that  King  Darius,  after  completing  the  well-known 
record  and  sculptures,  had  directed  the  present  vacant  space  to 
be  prepared  for  a  memorial  of  his  later  deeds,  especially  the 
campaign  against  Greece.  The  misfortunes  at  Athos  and  Mara- 
thon, the  uprising  in  Egypt,  and  the  hand  of  death,  frustrated 
his  plan,  changed  the  course  of  history,  and  left  the  blank  page 
on  the  rock  to  bear  witness  e  silentio  to  the  triumph  of  Hellas 
and  the  beginning  of  the  downfall  of  Iran.  But  this  is  mere 
guesswork,  idle  fantasy,  especially  when  one  asks  why  Darius 
should  have  reserved  the  central  and  best  position  on  the  moun- 
tain for  the  last.  All  that  we  can  say  is  that  the  general  appear- 
ance of  the  place  and  the  nature  of  its  surroundings  gives  the 
impression  of  great  antiquity.  So  much  for  the  blank  and 
unfinished  wall-space.  We  may  now  turn  to  the  well-known 
tablet  and  sculptures  that  form  the  special  subject  of  discussion. 
As  stated  before,  the  great  record  of  Darius  is  situated  far- 
ther to  the  northeast,  some  four  or  five  hundred  paces  removed 
from  the  central  point.  As  one  stands  beneath  and  looks 
three  hundred  feet  upward  within  the  rocky  ravine,  the  general 
outline  of  the  inscription  and  the  figures  of  Darius,  the  two 
vizirs,  and  the  ten  captive  kings,  come  clearly  into  view.  It  is 
easy  to  understand  why  the  natives  regard  the  latter  as  4  the 
Nine  Dervishes,'  because  the  prostrate  figure  of  Gaumata,  with 
his  upstretched  hands,  is  not  so  easy  to  distinguish  in  the  dis- 
tance. As  to  Skunka  with  his  high  Scythian  cap,  I  am  inclined 
to  agree  with  the  view  that  his  figure  was  added  some  time 
after  the  others  were  carved.  On  viewing  the  smoothed  spaces 
where  the  inscriptions  are  cut,  I  could  make  out,  as  I  knew  it 
beforehand,  the  general  arrangement  of  the  Old  Persian  in  the 
centre  below  the  sculptures,  the  Neo-Elamitic  to  the  left  of  the 
ledge,  and  the  Babylonian  above  this  and  also  above  on  the  right. 
The  familiar  broad  bands  that  indicated  by  their  peculiar 
grayish  color  where  the  water  had  streamed  down  and  washed 


A   DANGEROUS   CLIMB  191 

away  portions  of  the  inscription,  were  all  too  plain.  Even  at 
the  moment,  water  was  oozing  out  from  the  upper  part  of  one 
of  the  tablets  and  trickling  over  its  face.  It  was  evident  at  a 
glance  that  a  telescope  would  be  of  no  service  in  copying  the 
lower  part  of  the  Old  Persian  text,  because  the  projecting  ledge 
cut  off  a  portion  of  the  inscription  from  below.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  get  nearer.  Climbing  past  huge  boulders  and  fragments 
of  fallen  crags,  which  make  the  ascent  of  the  gorge  not  easy,  it 
was  possible  to  get  closer  to  where  the  tablets  and  sculptures 
are.  The  precipitous  sides  of  the  gorge  form  an  angle ;  the 
Darius  record  is  on  the  side  that  faces  almost  directly  toward 
the  east.  The  opposite  wall  or  other  face  of  the  shaft-like 
ravine  is  so  steep  and  rugged  as  to  defy  the  climber's  attempts 
to  ascend  it  for  the  purpose  of  photographing  the  inscriptions 
from  their  own  level.  The  natives  assert  that  it  is  practically 
impossible  to  mount  that  side  of  the  rocky  couloir.  The  ques- 
tion now  arose,  how  best  to  ascend  to  the  inscriptions. 

Having  heard  from  a  Persian  friend  that  it  would  probably 
be  best  to  be  let  down  from  above,  I  had  previously  studied 
some  of  the  methods  employed  by  the  bird-nesters  in  the 
Hebrides  in  being  lowered  by  ropes  over  craggy  cliffs.  A  brief 
examination  of  the  situation,  however,  showed  that  the  only 
feasible  approach  was  by  climbing  and  being  drawn  up  by  cords. 
In  less  than  an  hour  the  preparations  for  the  task  were  begun. 
Meshad  Ali,  the  owner  of  the  caravansarai  nearest  to  the  rock, 
found  five  men  who  were  ready  to  undertake  the  ascent.  A 
sixth,  Kuli,  the  guide  and  best  of  them  all,  was  added  later  ; 
and  the  procession  with  ropes  and  a  ladder  was  soon  under  way 
toward  the  beetling  precipice.  Whatever  may  be  said  against 
the  ladder,  which  proved  of  little  use,  nothing  can  be  main- 
tained against  the  Persian  goat-hair  ropes,  for  their  quality  is 
excellent.  The  cords  that  bound  the  luggage  on  the  caravan 
pack-horse,  supplemented  by  ropes  furnished  by  the  Bisitun 
guides,  and  firmly  fastened  about  my  chest  with  knots  that  only 
a  Persian  knows  how  to  tie,  were  a  precaution  against  the 


192  THE   GREAT  BEHISTAN  ROCK 

danger  of  slipping  and  gave  confidence  for  the  climb.  The 
stout  protest  of  the  guides  against  my  riding-boots  was  well 
founded,  as  the  risks  of  the  first  day  proved  ;  but  a  happy  sub- 
stitute for  these  was  later  found  in  the  native  glvahs,  resembling 
rough  tennis  shoes,  which  were  loaned  by  one  of  the  Per- 
sian bystanders  and  firmly  sewed  upon  the  feet  with  a  heavy 
pack-thread  needle.  All  was  then  ready.  The  exciting  task 
began. 

The  ascent  of  the  first  huge  fissure  in  the  side  of  the  couloir, 
the  clamber  with  torn  hands  and  clothes  along  the  brink  of  a 
precipitous  crag,  the  tugging  ropes  that  helped  up  the  steep 
incline  of  the  second  rock,  the  scramble  past  the  thorn  bush 
that  barred  the  way  farther  up,  and  the  final  tug  and  spring 
that  brought  to  the  edge  of  the  ledge,  together  with  khaill  khiib, 
4  very  good,'  and  the  encouraging  word  of  the  guides,  4  no  fear 
now,  the  danger  is  over'  —  will  not  readily  be  forgotten.  Only 
when  one  has  stood  on  the  narrow  ledge  by  the  side  of  the  in- 
scriptions and  looked  out  over  the  magnificent  plain  far  beneath, 
and  listened  to  the  dull  murmur  of  the  stream  below,  as  it  bursts 
from  the  mountain's  base,  does  one  know  how  to  appreciate  Raw- 
linson's  work.  It  may  interest  others,  as  it  did  me,  to  learn  that 
he  has  carved  his  name  in  the  stone,  a  few  inches  below  the  very 
inscriptions  which  he  first  made  known  to  the  modern  world. 
This  he  was  entitled  to  do,  and  one  is  almost  inclined  to  append 
after  his  simple  4H.  C.  Rawlinson,  1844'  the  words  of  ancient 
India's  homage  —  namo  namah. 

In  the  words  of  Rawlinson, '  the  climbing  of  the  rock  to  arrive 
at  the  inscriptions,  if  not  positively  dangerous,  is  a  feat  at  any 
rate  which  an  antiquary  alone  could  be  expected  to  undertake.' 
On  the  first  day  it  took  a  while  to  get  somewhat  used  to  the 
giddy  height,  so  I  devoted  my  attention  to  examining  the  gen- 
eral condition  of  the  rock,  making  notes,  observing  the  sculp- 
tures, which  one  can  study  better,  however,  from  below  than  from 
the  ledge,  and  to  getting  the  size  of  the  cuneiform  letters  and 
of  the  tablets  themselves.  The  four  columns  of  the  Old  Persian 


THE  BEHISTAN  SCULPTURES  AND  INSCRIPTIONS 
(From  Rawlinson) 


KULI,  THE  HEAD  GUIDE  IN  THE  ASCENT 


REACHING  THE  LOFTY  LEDGE  193 

record  are  each  about  six  feet  broad.  The  exact  measure- 
ments in  meters,  if  one  cares  to  have  them,  are  :  1st  col.  = 
1.90;  2dcol.  =  1.94;  3d  col.  =  1.95  (approx.)  ;  4th  col.  =  1.94 
(approx.).  The  5th  column  I  did  not  measure,  owing  to  the 
difficulty  of  access  to  it.  The  place  occupied  by  the  Neo- 
Elamitic  (Scythian  or  Median)  inscription  is  around  a  crag  to 
the  left  of  the  Old  Persian,  as  one  faces  the  inscription,  and  for 
taking  me  there  my  most  reliable  guide  wished  to  quintuple 
his  price,  while  the  Babylonian  tablet  on  the  overhanging  ledge 
above  to  the  left  and  to  the  right  is  the  most  inaccessible  of 
all,  as  Rawlinson  himself  discovered,  when  his  guides  failed 
him  and  he  found  only  one  Kurdish  shepherd  lad  who  would 
venture  to  undertake  to  reach  it  and  accomplished  with  diffi- 
culty the  risky  task  of  taking  the  squeezes  of  that  inscription.1 

On  looking  at  the  mass  of  scarped  rock  one  wonders  how 
the  daring  boy  ever  accomplished  the  perilous  feat.  Perhaps 
he  still  lives  and  can  tell,  but,  as  regards  Rawlinson,  I  could 
not  find  the  slightest  recollection  of  him  among  the  inhabitants 
of  whom  I  inquired  ;  although  I  learned  afterwards  that  his 
special  Persian  guide  died  a  few  years  ago  at  Hamadan. 

A  study  of  the  Old  Persian  tablets  soon  revealed  the  fact 
that  the  inscription  has  suffered  much  since  the  days  of  Rawlin- 
son. Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  water  that  was 
oozing  from  the  upper  part  of  the  inscription  when  first  I  saw 
it,  so  that  it  was  wet  in  places  for  the  space  of  several  feet. 
Some  photographs,  which  I  succeeded  in  taking  on  the  second 
day  upon  the  ledge,  make  clearer  what  we  have  lost  and  are 
losing,  and  I  fear  that  other  and  fresher  proofs  of  this  will  be 
found  when  the  rock  is  examined  with  more  detail  than  was 
possible  in  my  short  week's  stay.  But  I  wish  to  call  attention 
to  one  point.  I  found  that  after  the  eye  had  become  accus- 
tomed and  had  some  practice,  it  was  possible  to  restore  lost 
letters  and  words  by  a  careful  examination  of  the  indentures 

1  See  p.  179,  above,  and  cf .  H.  C.  Raw-  Rawlinson,  Memoir  of  Sir  Henry  Eaw- 
linson,  Archceologia,  34.  73-75,  and  G.  linson,  pp.  156-157,  London,  1898. 


194  THE   GREAT  BE  HIS  TAN  ROCK 

which  the  heavy  stroke  of  the  engraver's  chisel  had  left  in  carv- 
ing the  character.  The  head  of  the  nail-shaped  letters  (for  the 
Behistan  letters  look  perhaps  more  like  horse-shoe  nails  than  like 
wedges)  can  still  be  discerned  as  a  dot  or  hole  in  the  washed-away 
stone ;  and  a  knowledge  of  the  cuneiform  writing  enables  one  to 
combine  these  indentures  into  skeleton  letters  that  often  remove 
all  doubt  as  to  the  true  reading.  I  understood  how  Rawlinson 
must  sometimes  have  done  this,  and  more  easily,  because  the 
stone  had  suffered  less  in  his  time,  I  believe,  than  to-day. 

In  contrast  to  the  disintegrated  parts  stand  those  portions 
of  the  inscribed  tablets  where  the  flow  of  the  water  has  not 
mutilated  and  defaced  the  rock.  Here,  instead  of  the  peculiar 
dull  steel-gray  bands,  we  have  the  beautiful  brown  color  of 
the  inscription  as  perfect  as  when  the  stone-cutter  of  Darius 
laid  his  mallet  aside.  No  granite  tablet  in  Central  Park  or 
Trafalgar  Square  could  be  more  perfect.  It  was  interesting, 
moreover,  to  compare  the  style  of  the  Behistan  characters  with 
the  somewhat  larger  letters  of  the  Ganj  Namah  inscriptions 
(Dar.  Alv.  and  Xerx.  Alv.),  which  I  had  been  examining  at 
Hamadan  the  week  before.  On  Alvand  the  space  between 
the  lines  is  4  inches  and  each  letter  averages  nearly  3  inches 
in  height.  At  Behistan,  where  economy  of  space  was  neces- 
sary owing  to  the  length  of  the  inscription,  the  sharply  drawn 
lines  are  about  If  inches  (42  mm.)  apart,  and  the  clear-cut  letters 
each  approximately  1^  inches  (32  mm.)  high.  The  brown 
shellac  or  varnish  makes  them  stand  out  in  bolder  relief  and 
gives  a  fine  finish  to  the  whole,  although  I  could  see  no  traces 
of  the  'flakes'  of  the  cement,  which  Rawlinson  speaks  of  as 
having  sifted  down  upon  the  narrow  ledge  ;  nor,  again,  did  I 
observe  any  evidence  to  show  that  letters  had  been  preserved 
by  reason  of  this  shellac  withstanding  the  water  when  the  rock 
itself  had  disintegrated  beneath  its  surface.1  But  this  may  be 
still  another  proof  that  the  rock  has  suffered  since  Rawlinson's 
time,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  M.  de  Morgan  will  make  casts 
1  So  Rawlinson  in  JRAS.  10.  193. 


COPYING   AND   PHOTOGRAPHING  195 

of  the  entire  inscription,  as  I  learned  in  Persia  it  is  the  inten- 
tion of  his  Mission  to  do. 

My  attempt  to  take  squeezes  of  certain  words  was  a  failure  ; 
this  was  due  partly,  among  other  causes,  to  the  wind  that 
prevailed  during  the  four  days  when  I  was  up  on  the  ledge, 
and  was  the  stronger  owing  to  the  height  and  the  peculiar 
formation  of  the  rocky  cut.  This  made  me  wish  for  more 
time,  in  order  to  wait  for  better  conditions.  Owing  to  the 
physical  strain  of  the  ascent,  for  it  requires  some  athletic 
prowess,  and  owing  to  the  exciting  interest  of  the  work,  which 
is  somewhat  of  a  tax  on  the  nerves,  the  element  of  time  is 
necessary  for  accomplishing  what  one  would  wish  to  do.  To 
this  I  may  add  that  money  is  likewise  an  indispensable  factor  in 
the  equation.  But  above  all  one  must  not  be  hurried.  On  the 
last  day  of  my  stay,  for  example,  after  I  had  finished  all  I  could 
reach  or  clearly  see,  I  begged  the  guides  to  let  me  use  the 
ladder  in  order  to  examine  some  of  the  less  certain  readings  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  inscription.  This  they  stoutly  refused  to 
do  on  account  of  the  extreme  danger  from  the  high  wind  blow- 
ing at  the  time.  And  that  afternoon  I  was  obliged  to  start 
back  to  Hamadan.  But  although  some  points  like  these  had  to 
be  left,  I  was  glad  to  find  I  had  been  able  to  examine  most  of 
the  doubtful  passages  and  to  prove  in  general  the  wonderful 
accuracy  of  Rawlinson's  transcript.  To  this  I  shall  revert  also 
below  when  I  speak  of  the  two  or  three  photographs  I  took,  the 
first,  I  believe,  ever  taken  on  the  ledge  ;  they  were  'snapped' 
as  I  leaned  out  over  the  precipice,  held  by  the  guides,  while 
focusing  the  camera  and  hastily  taking  the  picture.  Most  of 
my  time,  however,  was  spent  in  copying,  collating,  or  verifying 
the  readings  on  the  rock  itself  without  resorting  to  my  photo- 
graphic apparatus.  I  may  add,  regarding  the  means  of  ascent 
in  ancient  times,  that  there  is  not  the  slightest  trace  of  any- 
thing of  the  kind  to-day.  If  ever  there  was  any,  it  cannot 
have  been  of  a  permanent  material. 

Regarding  the  descent  I  may  say  that  after  I  had  been  for 


196  THE   GREAT  BEHISTAN  ROCK 

hours  on  the  cramped  and  narrow  ledge,  the  going  down  seemed 
much  more  difficult  than  the  ascent,  and  it  was  a  joy  each  time 
to  hear  my  faithful  Persian  servant,  Safar,  who  had  remained 
below,  call  out,  4Now  you  are  safe,'  when  I  passed  the  last 
dangerous  place  and  could  jump  to  the  ground.  The  unloosen- 
ing of  the  tight-bound  ropes  quickly  followed  with  his  aid. 
All  had  gone  well. 

So  much  for  the  incidental  side.  I  now  turn  to  the  far  more 
interesting  and  important  matter  of  what  I  was  able  to  note, 
verify,  or  restore. 

Bh.  1.  47,  dya8atd:  the  reading  of  each  letter  is  quite  clear. 

Bh.  1.  51,  paranam  :  reading  absolutely  certain. 

Bh.  1.  55,  patiydvahyaiy :  so  my  photograph  (%),  cf.  also 
Skt.  avasya,  4  flee  for  refuge.' 

Bh.  1.  65,  vWWis".  a  :  barring  this  troublesome  word,  the 
entire  line  from  -caris  gaiOdmcd  mdniyamca  to  tyddis  gaumdta 
hya  is  quite  as  given  in  Spiegel  and  in  Weissbach  and  Bang, 
except  that  the  g  and  u  of  Gaumata's  name  are  defaced,  and 
the  y  of  hya  is  illegible,  owing  to  the  weathering  of  the  rock. 
The  question  arises  with  regard  to  the  much-discussed  word 
beginning  with  vi  in  the  middle  of  the  line.  The  latter  part  of 
the  word  is  mutilated,  but  my  memoranda  show  that  we  must 
accept  two  letters  after  -bis.  The  latter  I  have  marked  as 
4  apparently  a,'  the  former  I  noted  at  first  as  4  illegible,'  but 
added  afterwards, 4  probably  right  as  £.'  This  shows  the  bearing 
of  Rawlinson's  4  extremely  doubtful '  as  regards  the  c  at  least. 
A  photograph  which  I  took  of  the  first  part  of  the  word 
vWb0™0.  d  is  interesting  as  showing  that  there  is  no  i  inserted 
either  before  or  after  the  0.  This  is  a  matter  of  importance  for 
future  reference.  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  various  dis- 
cussions of  this  word  in  the  journals  —  the  most  recent  being 
that  of  Gray,  JAGS.  23.  56-60.  Regarding  abi-  or  abd- 
of  abicari$,  I  unfortunately  find  on  returning  to  America  that  I 
had  made  no  special  memorandum,  but  my  inference  from  the 
absence  of  a  note  is  that  the  text  stands  as  first  given  by  Raw- 


PHOTOGRAPH  OF  A  SECTION  OF  THE  INSCRIPTION  OF  DARIUS,  BEHISTAN  1.  61-71 
(Taken  up  on  the  ledge) 


COLLATING    THE   CUNEIFORM   TEXT  197 

linson  {obi-)  and  also  by  Weissbach  and  Bang,  because  I  had 
the  latter  volume  with  me  on  the  rock  and  should  probably 
have  recorded  a  variation  if  there  had  been  one. 

Bh.  1.  66 :  my  memoranda  and  '  snapshot '  photographs  of 
portions  of  1.  66  show  that  this  line  stands  as  given  in  the 
accepted  text,  excepting  the  c  in  pdrsamcd  and  the  final  mcd 
of  mdda\mca].  But  this  is  a  matter  of  minor  importance. 
My  4  snapshots '  also  help  to  assure  the  accuracy  of  several 
other  words  in  11.  65—70  ;  I  only  wish  I  had  taken  more  photo- 
graphs, despite  the  great  difficulty  in  using  a  camera  on  the 
ledge. 

Bh.  1.  86,  ma-yakduvd  (?)  etc.  :  the  first  letter  of  this  word  is 
very  uncertain,  but  the  notes  which  I  made  upon  it  on  two 
different  days  seem  to  confirm  the  accuracy  of  the  initial  m. 
My  notes  on  the  last  occasion  remark  that  the  first  part  of  the 
word  looks  more  like  maya,  and  I  twice  sketched  the  remnants 
of  the  cuneiform  characters,  with  a  special  comment  on  the  very 
scanty  space  between  the  m  (?)  and  the  y.  My  second  drawing 
in  pencil  indicates  more  especially  the  illegibility  of  the  m> 
which  can  be  inferred,  however,  from  the  dots  that  are  faintly 
visible,  but  can  be  made  out  only  with  difficulty.  The  same 
sketch  seems  to  emphasize  again  the  small  space  between  it 
and  the  y.  On  returning  to  America  and  gaining  access  to 
my  books,  I  find  that  whereas  in  JRAS.  10.  p.  xlv,  Rawlinson 
first  said,  4  There  would  appear  to  be  a  sufficient  space  for  two 
letters  between  m  and  &,'  he  afterwards  corrects  this  statement 
(JRAS.  12.  p.  ii,  appendix  ;  cf.  Bartholomae,  IF.  12.  132 
note)  by  noting  l  there  is  only  one  character  wanting  in  the 
word  ma-kd'uwdS  This  later  remark  would  agree  precisely 
with  my  own  independent  observations.  As  to  the  correctness 
of  ?/,  which  is  not  given  in  any  of  the  editions  except  in  that 
of  Weissbach  and  Bang  and  is  marked  as  doubtful  by  them,  I 
have  no  hesitation.  Both  my  pencil  sketches  of  the  cuneiform 
characters  present  a  y,  and  so  do  my  memoranda.  The  last 
part,  -kduvd,  of  the  word  under  consideration  is  perfectly  clear, 


198  THE   GREAT  BEHISTAN  ROCK 

as  my  notes  on  each  letter  show.  The  only  Avestan  word  that 
I  can  recall  that  is  at  all  like  this  dubious  mayakaauvaa  is  Av. 
maekaintls,  Ys.  38.  3  ;  or  is  it  'beasts  of  burden,'  cf.  Skt.  2 
mdyaf1  As  to  the  reading  of  the  two  words  adam  Jcdram, 
which  stand  before  this  provoking  word,  there  is  no  uncertainty. 

Bh.  1.  86,  aniyam  usabdrim  :  an  examination  and  re-examin- 
ation of  the  rock  proves  the  certainty  of  this  reading.  The 
word-divider  precedes  the  u  and  is  all  right.  The  u  itself, 
while  not  clear,  can  be  made  out  sufficiently  well,  for  I  exam- 
ined it  on  two  different  occasions  in  order  to  be  perfectly  sure. 
The  s  I  found  to  be  beyond  question,  and  that  without  notic- 
ing the  loss  of  any  sign  after  it  in  the  margin,  as  Foy,  KZ.  35. 
36,  would  assume.  The  chiselling  of  -bdrim  in  the  following 
line  shows  that  portion  of  the  compound  to  be  perfectly  clear. 
Oppert's  original  conjecture  usabdrim  would  therefore  be  sub- 
stantiated.2 I  refrain  here  from  entering  into  a  discussion  of 
the  derivation  of  this  much  mooted  word. 

Bh.  1.  87,  aniyahyd  asam  (sic)  [..^dnayam :  the  form  aniyahyd, 
as  given,  is  accurate,  though  the  word  is  damaged.  The  read- 
ing asm  ..  of  Spiegel  and  Kossowicz,  or  tasma\_kam\  of  Friedrich 
Miiller,  WZKM.  1.  222;  11.  253,  and  as  [pd]  of  Weissbach 
and  Bang,  though  the  latter  were  on  the  right  track  (cf .  Gray, 
AJP.  21.  21),  must  be  abandoned.  The  word  is  simply  asam, 
4  horse  '  (ace.  sg.).  The  m  at  the  end  is  very  distinct ;  the  8  is 
very  plain  ;  and  the  initial  a  is  quite  clear.  To  these  comments 
my  note-book  further  adds,  4  the  word-divider  after  it  is  quite 
clear.'  Further  conjecture  is  therefore  unnecessary,  and  I  find 
that  my  observation  as  to  the  m  receives  additional  corroboration 

1  [I  should  now  be  inclined  to  read  2  Foy  writes  me,  however,  (Dec.  20, 

ma$kdAuva,i  accepting  the  suggestion  1903)  that  he  still  believes  that  w£[£r] a 

made  to  me  by  Professor  Ferdinand  should  be  read  and  that  the  stone-cutter 

Justi,  in  a  letter  dated  Nov.  25,  1903,  made  a  mistake  as  the  word  stands  at 

and  in  his  published  notes  in  IF.  An-  the  end  of  a  line  —  '  ein  steinmetzver- 

zeiger,  17.  125.     Similarly  also  Foy,  sehen  (usa  statt   ustra)."1      I    should 

KZ.  37.  553,  and  Hiising,  as  mentioned  feel     considerable     hesitation     about 

by  Justi,  IF.  Anzeiger,  17.  125.]  accepting  such  a  view. 


READINGS  IN   THE  FIRST  COLUMN  199 

from  Rawlinson,  who  read  4  asm  .  .  .  dnayam^  but  he  did  not 
notice  the  word-divider  after  asam  and  consequently  vocalized 
the  word  erroneously.  The  old  difficulty,  however,  with  regard 
to  the  obliterated  prefix  of  [. .~\dnayam,  still  remains.  Over  each 
of  the  cuneiform  letters  of  the  legible  part,  -a  na  ya  ma,  I  have 
written  'O.K.,'  i.e.  'all  right,' in  my  note-book.  But  on  ex- 
amining the  conjectural  pati  as  prefix  in  Weissbach  and  Bang 
I  have  added  a  memorandum  '  pati  extremely  questionable  ; 
the  initial  letter  can  hardly  be  p  at  all.'  In  fact,  as  my  notes 
continue,  '  it  is  hardly  possible  to  read  the  prefix,'  because  the 
rock  is  so  damaged.  I  appended  a  further  note  that  the 
appearance  of  the  word  suggested  rather  \up\dnayam  or 
\uz\  dnay am.  As  to  form  and  composition  neither  of  these 
prefixes  would  be  impossible,  as  I  have  since  found  on  being 
able  to  consult  my  Sanskrit  dictionary  on  the  verbal  prefixes 
under  ym.  But  such  a  restoration  is  quite  uncertain,  though 
I  tried  my  best  to  assure  it  by  examining  the  weathered  stone 
again  and  again.  Whatever  the  prefix  may  be,  the  sense  seems 
clear  when  combined  with  the  new  reading  asam  (ace.  sg.  for 
plur.,  special  for  general),  and  the  sentence  aniyahyd  asam 
updnayam  may  be  rendered,  4 1  brought  up  horse  (s)  for  the 
rest  (of  the  army).'  This  interpretation  is  apparently  also  in 
accord  with  the  Elamitic  version,  cf.  Weissbach,  Achameniden- 
inschriften  Zweiter  Art,  pp.  63,  64,  and  Foy,  KZ.  37.  554.1 

Bh.  1.  88,  exit  avadd,  re-enter  avam :  the  reading  of  Spiegel, 
Kossowicz,  and  Weissbach  and  Bang  is  wrong  as  far  as  avadd 
is  concerned,  and  that  too  despite  the  fact  that  Spiegel, 
Keilintchriften,  2d  ed.,  p.  11,  n.  88,  is  following  the  authority  of 
Rawlinson's  revision  in  JRAS.  12.  p.  ii,  appendix.  The 
rock  plainly  gives  avam  at  this  particular  point,  even  though 
avadd  occurs  often  elsewhere  in  the  inscriptions.  The  m  of 
avam  is  clear,  as  is  shown  by  my  notes  and  my  sketch  of  the 

1  [Messrs.  King  and  Thompson,  of  asam,  'horse(s),'  and  they  suggest 
the  British  Museum,  now  write  me  franayam,  'I  led  forward,'  for  the 
(June  13,  1905)  that  they  also  read  verb.] 


200  THE   GREAT  BEH1STAN  ROCK 

cuneiform  characters.  The  v  is  not  quite  plain,  but  can  be 
made  out.  Regarding  the  initial  a  there  is  absolutely  no 
doubt.  In  JRAS.  10.  211,  etc.,  Rawlinson  originally  read 
quite  correctly  4  awam  kdramj  '  that  army,'  just  as  in  Bh.  2. 
20,  25,  41,  46,  etc.  There  was  no  occasion  for  his  departing 
from  that.  It  may  be  added  by  way  of  supplement  that  the 
letters  -dva  of  the  adjacent  word  [pas]dva  are  right,  though 
the  first  part  of  the  word  is  broken. 

Bh.  1.  92-96  :  the  t  in  nadHabaira  (1.  92)  is  legible,  and  may 
reasonably  be  removed  from  italics  in  our  transcribed  editions 
of  the  text.  I  made  an  incidental  note  also  that  disa  hadd 
(1.  93)  is  accurately  recorded  in  our  texts,  and  that  akumd 
(1.  96),  though  defaced,  is  still  legible.  There  were  evidences 
also  that  the  rock  has  suffered  since  the  days  of  Rawlinson. 

Bh.  2.  59-61  :  these  three  lines  are  precisely  as  given  in 
Rawlinson  and  Spiegel.  The  lacuna  indicated  by  Weissbach 
and  Bang  in  4  nd  .  .  avam  Tcdram  '  (2.  61)  is  wrong  and  is  evi- 
dently due  to  a  misprint  (which  misled  Bartholomae,  IF.  12. 
135).  In  printing,  the  two  points  .  .  have  accidentally  slipped 
in  by  mistake  from  the  fragmentary  -iyamanam  in  the  next  line. 
The  reading  is  therefore  mand  avam  kdram,  as  in  Spiegel. 
This  note  applies  consequently  to  the  Weissbach  and  Bang 
edition  alone. 

Bh.  2.  61,  \@au']ravaahara'hayaa  :  the  first  two  letters  are  much 
defaced,  but  the  third  letter  (r)  may  be  deduced  from  the  three 
dots  or  holes  left  in  the  rock  by  the  deeper  cutting  at  the  head 
of  the  wedge,  although  the  less  sharply  chiselled  parts  of  the 
letter  have  been  marred  by  the  disintegration  of  the  rock.  By 
practice  on  the  rock  the  eye  becomes  accustomed  to  distinguish- 
ing such  details,  and  the  restoration  can  be  made  with  com- 
parative certainty. 

Bh.  2.  75  (cf.  2.  89),  utd8ai[y~\  [ca8ma~\  avajam,  etc.  :  at  the 
beginning  of  this  line  the  y  of  utdsa\iy,  though  faint,  is  never- 
theless to  be  inferred  from  the  indentures  or  dots  that  are  still 
quite  distinguishable.  Recall  what  was  said  above  on  such 


THE   SECOND   AND    THIRD    COLUMNS  201 

dots  as  means  of  restoration.  The  obliterated  word,  read  as 
casma  or  caxsma,  yielded  no  new  results  and  is  equally  illegible 
in  both  2.  75  and  2.  89.1  At  2.  75  I  have  merely  noted  regard- 
ing the  fragments  of  an  internal  letter  that  it  4  looks  more  like 
an  h  than  it  does  like  an  *,'  but  the  likeness  between  the  two 
letters  in  the  cuneiform  character  leads  easily  to  misappre- 
hension, and  certainly  casma  suits  the  sense,  for  the  loss  of  an 
eye  or  both  eyes,  inflicted  as  a  punishment  in  addition  to  other 
mutilations,  is  precisely  what  one  notices  or  hears  of  in  remote 
parts  of  Persia  to-day,  as  in  the  days  of  King  Darius.  The 
sight  is  destroyed  by  means  of  a  red-hot  iron  brought  near 
to  the  ball  —  as  noted,  for  example,  by  Landor,  Across  Coveted 
Lands,  2.  191.  This  latter  observation  may  throw  some  addi- 
tional light  on  the  meaning  of  avajam  (2.  75).  The  reading 
of  this  word  is  beyond  question.  So  also  -is  duvaraydmaiy  ; 
but  the  words  basta  addriy  are  now  illegible  —  still  another 
proof  of  the  damage  done  by  the  water  since  Rawlinson  exam- 
ined the  rock  some  sixty  years  ago.  Simply  by  way  of  record 
it  may  be  worth  adding  that  the  last  two  words  of  this  line 
(2.  75),  haruvasim  k\dra,  are  in  perfect  condition  at  present. 

Bh.  3.  87-91  :  some  time  was  spent  in  trying  to  see  if  any- 
thing new  might  possibly  be  got  out  of  the  closing  lines  of  the 
third  column,  but  the  action  of  the  water  had  so  completely 
obliterated  the  words  that  even  the  last  two  at  the  bottom  of 
the  tablet  were  less  clear  than  they  were  to  Rawlinson.  My 
notes  show  that  dp  of  \uzmay\dpatiy  may  be  inferred  from  the 
faint  remnants  of  these  two  letters  ;  the  last  part  of  the  word 
is  all  right.  The  k  of  dkariyantdm  is  apparently  rightly  read ; 
I  have  added  '  k  is  best,'  but  have  repeated  that  it  is  much 
damaged. 

Bh.  4.  46  :  so  far  as  the  first  three  words  xsdya\6iya  vasnd 

1  [Messrs.  King  and  Thompson  write  a    possibility,    comparing   Av.   a§-  in 

me  they  read   '  utsam  avajam,  with  Bartholomae,  Air.  Wb.  p.  229,  although 

u£8a,   "eye,"   cf.  Skt.    aksa."1    There  a  dual  would  rather  be  expected.    I 

seem  to  be  phonetic  reasons  against  have  not  overlooked  the  remarks  by 

this,  but  I  could  understand  asam  as  Foy,  KZ.  37.  554-555J 


202  THE   GREAT  BE  HIST  AN  ROCK 

aura[mazddTia]  are  concerned,  the  reading  is  as  in  the  texts 
already  cited  ;  but  I  was  able  to  make  out  the  faint  remnants  of 
mazada  in  the  divine  name.  In  the  fourth  word,  like  Rawlin- 
son,  I  could  only  read  the  latter  portion,  or  -maiy,  so  there  is 
still  an  opportunity  for  conjecture,  and  the  suggestion  of  Gray, 
JAOS.  23.  62,  to  read  avdmaiy  for  avdt-maiy,  is  as  satisfactory 
a  way  of  filling  the  lacuna  as  any.  The  word  aniyasciy,  fur- 
thermore, I  have  marked  with  an  'O.K.'  ('all  right')  in  my 
memoranda. 

Bh.  4.  49,  avdh\yd paruv  6ada  .  .  .  :  the  first  two  words  are 
clear,  but  the  verb  is  in  bad  condition.  Its  introductory  part, 
however,  can  be  made  out,  and  I  have  marked  the  d  as  '  O.K.,' 
but  with  the  latter  part  of  the  word  I  could  do  nothing. 

Bh.  4.  50,  maniy \_ataiy~]'.  despite  the  syntactical  grounds 
favoring  a  subjunctive,  we  must  accept  a  short  a,  judging 
from  the  rock.  On  the  margin  of  my  text  I  have  distinctly 
recorded,  'no  space  for  long  a;  what  remains  of  the  t  comes 
directly  after  y."1 1 

Bh.  4.  51,  paruvd  xsdyad[iyd']  .  did  dha,  etc.:  the  first  two 
words  are  quite  clear  on  the  rock;  the  remnants  of  the  third 
one  I  read  as  .  did  without  looking  at  the  printed  text  of  Spiegel 
or  of  Weissbach  and  Bang,  which  I  had  with  me.  Rawlinson, 
followed  by  the  later  editors,  gives  only  the  final  a,  whereas  I 
distinctly  made  out  .  did  independently,  as  stated.  Weissbach 
and  Bang  conjecture  [ydt~\d,  and  compare  Elam.  kus.  With 
regard  to  the  next  word,  I  have  noted :  '  dha  can  be  made  out 
on  the  stone  without  question.'  The  reading,  therefore,  is 
assured,  and  I  have  marked  avaisdm  and  astiy  as  all  right ;  but 
the  naiy  between  them  is  no  longer  clear,  although  it  may  be 
inferred  from  the  appearance  of  the  stone.  Accordingly  I  have 
marked  it  'O.K.,  inferable.' 

Bh.  4.  58,  ddraya[vaus  xsdya]6iya  nuram  :  the  name  of 
King  Darius  is  apparently  somewhat  more  damaged  now  than  in 
Rawlinson's  time  ;  but  that  is  a  minor  matter.  More  important 
1  Cf.  also  Foy,  KZ.  37.  488,  note. 


PROBLEMS  IN   THE  FOURTH  COLUMN  203 

is  a  memorandum  regarding  the  absence  of  any  break  before 
nuram*  In  my  notes  I  have  drawn  a  circle  around  the  dots  in 
the  Weissbach  and  Bang  edition,  to  indicate  that  the  lacuna  is 
to  be  struck  out,  and  have  added  a  definite  memorandum, 4  omit 
the  space ;  the  word  nilram  comes  after  the  word-divider  that 
followed  [xsdya] Qiya?  Foy's  conjecture  of  add,  KZ.  35.  34,  n.  1, 
is  therefore  needless. 

Bh.  4.  64,  na\iy  zurakara  dha[m~\:  the  last  part  of  naiy  is 
much  broken,  but  the  reading  appears  to  be  all  right.  On 
examining  zurakara  I  first  noted  4  not  wholly  clear,  as  the  stone 
is  somewhat  marred,  but  still  za  u  ra  ka  ra  does  seem  all  right.' 
On  re-examining  it  the  following  day  in  a  better  light,  I  added 
that  the  reading  is  confirmed.  On  looking  up  Rawlinson  I 
find  that  he  gives  the  cuneiform  quite  clearly,  which  again  bears 
out  the  idea  that  the  rock  has  suffered  since  his  time.  As  to 
dha[m~\  I  have  marked  'all  right'  over  dha  in  my  copy  and 
have  added  'probably  right'  with  reference  to  what  can  be 
made  out  of  the  final  ra.  The  printed  editions  have  the  same. 

Bh.  4.  64,  [naiy  adam  na]imaiy  taumd  :  I  was  not  able  to 
make  anything  out  of  the  missing  letters  that  are  indicated  here 
by  being  enclosed  in  brackets,  and  I  wrote  '  absolutely  illegible 
to  me '  over  [adam] .  But  on  the  last  day  in  the  strong  sun- 
light I  corrected  this  by  a  supplementary  remark  that  '  I  fan- 
cied I  could  discern  the  a  quite  clearly,  and  remnants  of  the 
crossbar  and  upper  parts  of  a  d,  together  with  a  fragment  of 
the  horizontal  wedge  and  possible  traces  of  the  indenture  caused 
by  the  deep  strokes  in  the  nail-heads  of  an  ra.'  This,  therefore, 
is  something  towards  assuring  the  accuracy  of  [adam].  Re- 
garding the  first  i  in  [no]  imaiy  I  have  noted  that  it  is  4  right, 
but  broken  badly.'  As  to  taumd  there  is  no  doubt.  The  read- 
ing is  quite  accurate,  as  in  all  our  texts. 

The  next  three  words,  and  those  following  them,  called  for 
much  study,  the  results  of  which  will  now  be  given. 

Bh.  4.  64,  upariy  abstain  upariy  :  I  spent  much  of  my  last 
two  days  in  examining  this  passage,  which  was  one  of  the 


204  THE   GREAT  BEHISTAN  ROCK 

incentives  for  my  going  to  Behistan,  because  of  the  bearing  of 
the  whole  sentence  on  the  question  of  the  religion  of  Darius  as 
a  Zoroastrian  and  the  faith  of  the  Achsemenian  kings,  which  I 
have  discussed  in  JAOS.  21.  169,  172-175.  I  returned  to  the 
line  again  and  again,  studied  each  word  under  different  lights, 
sketched  it,  and  made  rubbings,  so  far  as  I  could  without  injur- 
ing the  stone,  which  I  was  fearful  might  in  some  way  become 
defaced.  The  first  of  the  two  upariy' s  is  much  damaged  and 
difficult  to  read ;  but  on  the  last  day  I  was  fortunate  in  having 
bright  sunlight,  so  that  I  could  examine  it  well  and  compare  it 
again  and  again  with  the  similar  word  at  the  end  of  the  line. 
I  found  distinctly  that  it  is  upariy  (with  it),  not  apariy  as  has 
been  suggested,  for  example,  by  Foy,  KZ.  35.  45,  n.  1;  37.  502, 
where  the  Elamitic  version  is  also  discussed.  This  first  upariy 
therefore  remains  unchanged,  as  in  Rawlinson.  I  came  to  like 
results  as  to  the  second  upariy,  which  is  more  distinct.  Over 
its  u  in  my  text  and  over  a  part  of  p  and  over  the  y  I  have 
written  'all  right.'  Below  the  part  pari  I  have  marked  '  much 
defaced.'  But  on  the  following  day  when  the  sun  was  bright 
the  word  came  out  quite  clearly,  and  I  appended  the  note,  '  it  is 
all  right.'  Therefore  the  second  upariy  must  likewise  stand,  as 
in  Rawlinson. 

I  was  most  anxious,  however,  to  examine  the  word  between 
these  two  and  to  find  whether  it  is  abistdm^R^^  abastdm^R^), 
or  drstdm  (Foy's  conjecture)  —  see  my  remarks  in  the  article 
already  referred  to,  JAOS.  21.  169,  172-175.  Great  care  and 
attention  were  given  to  the  examination,  and  after  working  on 
the  individual  letters  I  made  it  a  point  to  turn  to  something 
else  and  then  to  return  again  and  again  to  verify  my  memo- 
randa and  my  sketches.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  no  i  in  the 
word  ;  any  such  reading  as  dbistdm  must  therefore  be  dropped. 
We  have,  accordingly,  to  do  either  with  abastdm  or  with  Foy's 
conjecture  drstdm,  the  point  being  merely  whether  the  text  has 
a  b  or  an  r,  because  each  of  the  other  letters  a.stdm  is  perfectly 
clear,  as  my  memoranda  again  and  again  show.  The  whole 


UPARI  ARSHTlM  205 

question  between  the  two  mooted  letters  is  whether  we  have 
the  slight  horizontal  mid-bar  of  the  cuneiform  ^|  r  or  simply 
the  two  parallel  wedges  of  the  y  b.  I  must  mention  at  once 
that  the  shape  of  the  cuneiform  character  for  r  on  the  Behistan 
rock  does  not  exaggerate  the  middle  of  the  three  horizontal 
strokes  so  much  as  does  the  type  in  our  printed  editions.  I 
noticed  this  particularly,  and  my  photographs  taken  on  the  ledge 
also  bring  it  out.  Therefore  the  middle  wedge  is  naturally 
less  prominent,  and  when  defaced  by  the  action  of  the  water,  as 
this  word  has  been,  it  becomes  very  faint.  A  feeling  of  un- 
certainty arises  as  to  whether  the  mark  be  an  intended  indenture 
or  an  accidental  dot,  because  of  the  peculiar  brownish  mottled 
appearance  of  the  somewhat  porous  stone  when  it  is  exposed 
to  the  disintegrating  water.  But  each  time  I  returned  to  the 
word  I  became  surer  that  Foy  is  right  and  that  r,  not  6,  is  to 
be  read.  I  examined  the  letter  in  comparison  with  the  other  r's 
in  the  vicinity,  when  these  had  suffered  from  the  water,  and 
always  with  the  same  result.  I  believe  therefore  that  ara8ataama, 
i.e.  drstdm  for  drstdtam, '  Arshtat,  Uprightness,  Rectitude,'  is  to 
be  read  with  Foy,  and  he  is  to  be  heartily  congratulated  on  his 
shrewd  conjecture.1  At  the  same  time,  I  would  suggest  the 
need  of  caution  in  making  further  conjectures.  The  days  spent 
up  on  the  ledge  at  Behistan  have  made  me  more  conservative 
than  ever,  and  in  cases  of  doubt  I  should  generally  rely  on  the 
faithful  Rawlinson  until  the  rock  itself  be  examined. 

As  to  the  beginning  of  the  next  line,  which  is  variously  given 
as  mam  naiy,  as  ay  am  naiy,  etc.,  I  confess  that  when  I  first  read 
the  fragmentary  second  element  I  marked  it  as  agreeing  with 
naiy  in  the  transcribed  text  which  I  had  with  me.  But  on 
re-examining  the  damaged  fragment  I  recorded  in  my  note-book 
that  'instead  of  ay  am  naiy,  it  looks  more  like  a  long  word 
ending  in  -haiy  or  -}aiy  —  the  former,  -haiy,  is,  however,  better, 
and  it  seems  so  to  be  clear.'  Later  I  added  again,  'it  does 

1  On  the  grammatical  formation  of  [King  and  Thompson  also  read  arstdm 
the  word,  see  also  Foy,  KZ.  37.  503.  —letter  dated  June  15,  1905.] 


206  THE   GREAT  BE  HI  STAN  ROCK 

not  look  like  naiy.'  This  makes  the  question  of  the  reading 
naiy  for  a  moment  uncertain.  On  returning  to  America  and 
gaining  access  to  Rawlinson's  draft  of  the  cuneiform  characters, 
I  was  interested  in  finding  that  he  also  has  -haiy,  and  he  must 
likewise  have  had  the  impression  of  a  longer  word,  as  his 
ya.  .  .  tahaiya  seems  to  prove.  Yet  in  his  later  revision  (JRAS. 
12.  p.  viii,  appendix)  his  cuneiform  text  runs  uparaiya  maama 
naiya,  with  the  word-divider  before  mam,  and  with  this  reading 
Spiegel  and  the  other  editors  have  operated.  Whatever  we 
may  say  on  that  matter,  the  Elamitic  version  is  certainly  in 
favor  of  reading  the  second  word  as  naiy,  for  it  has  the 
usual  negative  particle  inne,  'not,'  as  I  find  on  consulting 
the  text. 

Bh.  4.  65,  ...  sakaurim,  etc.:    the   text    in    Spiegel    and 
Kossowicz,  partly  following  Rawlinson,  gives  upariy  \  mam  naiy 

sakaurim huvatam  zura  akunavam  ;   Oppert,  Le  Peuple 

et  la  Langue  des  Medes,  p.  183,  writes  4  upariy  ay  am  naiy  uvdrim 
naiy  druvaptam  zaura  akunavam*  ;  Fr.  Miiller,  WZKM.  1.  60, 
reads,  4 aparijd\jdma  naij  sakaurim  [naij  a~]huwatam  zaura 
akunawam'  ;  Weissbach  and  Bang  present  upariy  ay  am  naiy 
sakaurim  [naiy]  ....  huvatam  zura  akunavam  ;  Foy,  KZ. 
35.  45,  first  suggested  a  correction  of  the  text,  i.e.  'in  dpari- 
ydyam  zu  verbessern,'  and  he  altered  sakaurim  into  hukdrim 
and  huvatam  into  duuskaram  (on  which  see  Bang,  IF.  8.  292); 
then  Bartholomae,  IF.  12.  130,  made  the  radical  conjecture 
naiy  dhurim  naiy  duruvd"tam ;  finally  Foy,  KZ.  37.  557,  shifted 
his  ground  and  made  a  new  guess,  dasurim  .  .  .  \ai\nahuvantam. 
I  can  only  add  that  with  regard  to  sakaurim  suggestions  for 
altering  the  text  may  be  practically  abandoned.  The  stone 
plainly  gives  sa  ka  u  ra  i  (?)  ma.  Regarding  the  first  three 
letters,  sa  ka  u,  there  is  no  doubt,  as  a  repeated  examination  of 
the  word  proved.  The  ra,  however,  is  very  unclear,  but  the 
holes  or  dots  of  the  defaced  wedges  would  allow  an  r.  The 
same  is  true  of  i,  which  looks  somewhat  like  an  a,  but  the  dots 
favor  an  i.  The  final  letter  m  is  marked  in  my  notes  as  4  even 


THE  END    OF   THE  FOURTH  COLUMN  207 

less  clear,  but  the  dots  would  not  be  against  m  ' ;  and  on  a  third 
examination  I  became  still  surer  of  the  m.  I  added  a  remark 
to  the  effect  that  the  passage  must  have  suffered  since  Rawlin- 
son's  time. 

Bh.  4.  65,  n[aiy~\  :  regarding  the  word  after  sakaurim,  I  have 
noted  4  the  n  of  naiy(?)  after  sakaurim  can  be  made  out  by  the 
dots.'  This  reading  is  supported  by  the  Elamitic,  which  again 
has  inne,  'not,'  just  as  it  has  before  the  word  corresponding  to 
sakaurim. 

Bh.  4.  65,  [..]ttt?ota?»(?) :  for  this  much  debated  word, formerly 
read  .  .  huvatam,  etc.,  I  have  now  some  new  material  to  offer. 
The  text  is  indeed  much  mutilated,  but  each  of  the  letters 
u  va  ta  ma  is  legible,  although  the  final  m  is  in  bad  condition. 
On  studying  the  first  part  of  the  word,  I  noticed  that 
instead  of  an  A,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  we  have  another  letter, 
a  character  that  looks  more  like  s.  On  looking  closer,  it  became 
perfectly  clear  to  me  that  the  supposed  s  was  not  s  at  all,  but 
apparently  nu,  although  this  might  possibly  be  a  mistaken  read- 
ing for  r",  the  uncertainty  being  due  to  the  resemblance  between 
the  characters  in  the  original  cuneiform  if  the  horizontal  bars 
are  somewhat  marred.  The  sketch  made  in  my  notes,  however, 
looks  precisely  like  nu.  A  further  examination  of  the  damaged 
part  revealed  an  apparent  m  standing  before  this,  so  that  we 
may  assume  that  the  word  began  with  m.1 

Bh.  4.  65,  zura  akunavam,  etc. :  each  letter  of  these  two 
words  is  legible,  and  the  same  is  true  with  regard  to  each  of 
the  words  that  follow  in  this  line. 

Bh.  4.  66,  vl\i~]6iyd:  this  is  rightly  read,  although  the  v*  is 
'broken,  but  O.K.,'  and  it  is  'hard  to  be  sure  of  the  final  a,' 
although  it  is  '  probably  correct,'  as  I  have  noted  in  my  text. 

Bh.  4.  68,  hy a  aparam  ahy,  etc. :  these  first  three  words  of 

1  [Even  if  my  reading  be  correct,  I  I  am  not  unmindful  that  the  Elamitic 

have  no  etymology  to  offer  in  explana-  version  is  read  as  mistukra  ;  nor  have 

tion  of  the  word,  not  even  to  compare  I  overlooked  the  various  conjectures 

Skt.  manuvat  —  as  I  doubtfully  sug-  by  the  scholars  I  have  mentioned  in 

gested  at  a  hazard  in  JAOS.  24.  24.  my  paragraph  on  sakaurim,  above.] 


208  THE   GREAT  BEHISTAN  ROCK 

the  line  are  weathered  and  defaced,  but  they  are  rightly  given 
in  the  texts.  The  same  may  be  said  of  '  italic '  martiya  of  the 
editions,  but  the  word  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  stone.  With 
regard  to  draufana  I  have  recorded  '  weathered,  but  O.K.'  The 
subjunctive  ahatiy  stands  as  in  the  editions;  so  does  hyavd,  but  it 
is  weathered.  Regarding  [a]tar[£«],  the  whole  word,  except  the 
internal  letters,  is  'so  weathered  as  to  be  practically  illegible.' 

Bh.  4.  69,  ahat\iy  avaiy  md  daustd  avaiy,  etc.:  the  first  and 
third  words  are  all  right ;  so  also  is  the  first  avaiy,  although 
it  is  hard  to  read.  The  last  part  of  daustd  is  scarcely  legible, 
though  it  may  be  inferred  from  the  appearance  of  the  stone. 
The  second  avaiy  is  illegible.  The  long  word  ahifrastddiy  is 
'all  right,  but  in  part  difficult  to  read.'  The  imperative  parsd 
is  'almost  illegible.' 

Bh.  4.  71,  73,  vikandhy  :  'so  best  with  the  letter  k,  not  s.' 

Bh.  4.  76,  avataiy  auramazdd  :  the  first  word  is  '  apparently 
all  right,  but  almost  illegible ' ;  the  second,  or  divine  name,  is 
'  inferable ' ;  as  to  mazdnam(f)  of  Weissbach  and  Bang,  for 
which  Oppert  conjectured  vazrakam  (see  Foy,  KZ.  35.  47 ; 
37.  558),  I  have  written  ' illegible'  above  it. 

Bh.  4.  77,  vikandh[i~\dis :  the  k  is  'fairly  clear'  and  'best 
read  so.'  The  [i']  is  'omitted  on  the  stone.' 

By  this  time  the  westering  sun  —  for  one  learns  in  Persia  to 
live  by  the  sun  —  warned  me  that  I  must  descend  for  the  last 
time  from  the  rocky  height  in  order  to  start  once  again  for 
Hamadan  and  begin  my  journey  to  Southern  Persia.  I  was 
loath  to  leave,  but  leave  I  had  to  at  last  if  I  were  to  carry  out 
my  plans  for  seeing  Isfahan,  Persepolis,  and  Shiraz,  and  for  vis- 
iting the  Zoroastrians  at  Yezd  before  going  to  the  capital  and 
journeying  thence  to  Merv,  Bokhara,  and  Samarkand.  On 
reaching  the  plain  once  more  there  was  an  opportunity  to  urge 
the  inhabitants  of  Bisitun  charily  to  guard  their  inscription  and 
to  tell  them  of  the  divine  blessings  which  King  Darius  invoked 
upon  all  such  as  do  so,  and  of  the  curses  that  were  assured 
if  it  were  injured. 


THE  SCULPTURE   OF   THE  PARTHIAN  KING    GOTARZES     209 

I  did  not  leave  Behistan,  however,  without  making  an 
examination  of  the  mutilated  Parthian  sculpture  on  the  panel 
at  the  base  of  the  hill,  upon  the  right  of  the  approach  to  the 
great  inscription.  The  bas-relief  has  been  nearly  destroyed, 
but  we  know  that  it  represents  the  triumph  of  the  Parthian 
king  Gotarzes  (A.D.  46-51)  over  his  rival  Meherdates,  who  was 
likewise  a  Parthian,  but  was  brought  up  at  the  court  of  the 
Roman  emperor  Claudius,  and  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  gain  possession  of  the  Persian  crown.  An  inscription, 
written  in  Greek,  after  the  manner  of  the  Philhellenic  Parthi- 
ans,  records,  or  once  recorded,  the  names  of  '  Mithra[da]tes 
the  Persian  .  .  .  Gotarzes,  Satrap  of  Satraps  (i.e.  king  of 
kings),  the  son  of  Gev ' ;  but  now  the  names  are  almost 
obliterated  with  the  exception  of  TOTAPZHC,  which  can  still 
be  read  distinctly.  Most  of  the  sculpture  was  destroyed  about 
a  hundred  years  ago  by  an  act  of  vandalism  of  a  curious  kind. 
A  Persian  overlord,  Sheikh  Ali  Khan  Zanganah,  cut  an  arch- 
shaped  panel  directly  in  the  middle  of  the  sculpture,  in  order 
to  record,  in  an  Arabic  inscription,  a  gift  of  the  income  of  two 
villages,  which  he  donated  for  keeping  up  a  caravansarai  he 
had  built  at  Bisitun.  We  can  but  regret  that  his  act  of  gener- 
osity led  him  to  mutilate  a  valuable  historic  sculpture.1  The 
elements  have  likewise  contributed  much  to  the  destruction  of 
the  bas-relief,  which  was  but  rudely  carved  at  best,  so  that  the 
carvings  are  greatly  weathered,  but  it  is  still  possible  to  dis- 
tinguish two  figures  of  heroic  size  on  the  left  as  one  faces  the 
panel,  and  vestiges  of  still  another  on  the  right.  Above  the 
latter  there  once  were  two  small  figures  of  mounted  warriors, 
each  armed  with  a  spear,  one  pursuing  the  other;  over  the 
latter's  head,  however,  floats  an  angel  holding  a  garland  of 
victory.2  These  effigies  symbolized  the  struggle  between 

1  The  arched  panel  is  seen  already  2  These  figures  are  to  be  seen  in 

in  the  sketch  by  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  the  drawings  of  Flandin   and  Coste, 

2.    151 ;  for  a  note  on    Sheikh    Ali  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  1.  plates 

of  Zanganah,  cf.    also    2.    85-86.  16,  19. 


210  THE   GREAT  BEHISTAN   ROCK 

Meherdates  and  Gotarzes,  but  the  figures  are  now  nearly 
obliterated,  and  I  could  make  little  out  of  the  sculpture,  although 
much  depends  upon  favorable  light  at  the  time  when  it  is 
examined.1 

As  we  stand  at  the  base  of  the  panel  and  look  out  over  the 
plain  in  the  direction  of  the  village  of  Bisitun,  the  eye  can 
plainly  see  the  site  of  what  must  have  been  an  ancient  building, 
as  indicated  by  the  outlines  of  the  walls.  The  natives  call  this 
4  Khosru's  Place '  (G-ah-i  Kei  Khosru),  and  possibly  this  Sasa- 
nian  king  once  had  a  villa  there,  as  the  country  round  about 
was  a  favorite  territory  of  his  and  his  name  is  preserved  in  the 
locality  in  various  ways. 

There  is  still  one  more  relic  of  antiquity  at  Bisitun,  which 
I  shall  describe,  because  it  seems  to  have  escaped  detailed 
notice  in  the  books  that  I  have  consulted,  although  the  monu- 
ment is  well  known  to  the  natives.  My  guides,  when  asked 
whether  there  were  any  carvings  or  inscriptions  besides  those 
which  I  had  examined,  told  me  that  there  was  a  sculpture  on 
a  large  boulder  around  the  right  flank  of  the  mountain,  not  far 
from  the  base  of  the  cliff  where  the  Gotarzes  panel  is  cut. 
Pointing  out  the  direction,  they  led  me  around  the  spur  and 
then  up  a  slight  incline  to  a  place  where  stood  a  huge  boulder 
of  stone,  some  twenty  feet  in  circumference  and  ten  in  height, 
carved  on  three  sides  with  life-size  figures  in  low  relief.  As  I 
could  not  take  a  photograph,  because  it  was  too  late  in  the 
afternoon,  I  made  careful  notes  of  the  sculptures  and  shall 
describe  them  with  more  detail  than  might  otherwise  be 
necessary. 

The  middle  figure,  facing  the  natural  approach  up  the 
mound,  is  a  bearded  personage,  with  mustache  and  hair 
distinctly  marked,  and  wearing  upon  the  head  a  roundish  cap. 

1  For  the  history  of  Gotarzes,  and  linson,  Sixth  Oriental  Monarchy,  pp. 

for  bibliographical  references  concern-  249-261.    Mr.  Rabino  kindly  sent  me 

ing  the  inscription,  see  Justi,  Grundr.  notes  regarding  the  Greek  inscription 

iran.  Philol.  2.  504-505  ;  cf.  also  Raw-  to  supplement  my  own  memoranda. 


FLANDIN'S  SKETCH  OF  THE  GOTARZES  SCULPTURE 


THE  PARTHIAN  SCULPTURE  OF  GOTARZES,  MUTILATED  BY  A  MODERN  INSCRIPTION 


A   SCULPTURED   BOULDER  211 

The  close-fitting  upper  garment  and  tunic  have  no  decoration, 
but  a  girdle  is  worn  about  the  waist  and  a  necklace  encircles 
the  throat,  as  five  rings  of  the  band  can  be  distinctly  seen. 
The  left  hand  holds  a  bowl ;  the  right  hand  is  extended  over 
a  low  column  that  may  be  a  fire-altar,  and  it  holds  some  object 
which  I  could  not  make  out,  but  which  is  apparently  connected 
in  some  way  with  the  oblation.  The  legs  of  the  figure  are  very 
fat  and  are  spread  apart,  as  in  walking,  and  they  appear  to  be 
encased  in  greaves,  or  in  coverings  marked  with  grooved  lines, 
which  make  them  look  like  the  buckskin  leggings  of  a  crick- 
eter. In  appearance  the  figure  looks  as  if  it  might  possibly  be 
intended  to  represent  a  Magian  priest,  although  it  would  be 
difficult  to  affirm  this;  there  is  certainly  nothing  either  mili- 
tary or  kingly  in  the  bearing  of  the  sculpture. 

The  second  figure  is  carved  on  the  right  side  of  the  boulder. 
The  face  is  fat  and  round  and  apparently  without  a  beard,  so 
that  the  head  looks  almost  like  that  of  a  woman  or  a  youth. 
There  is  a  necklace  about  the  throat,  and  a  bracelet  on  the  left 
arm,  which  is  clearly  marked,  although  the  right  arm  is  not 
distinct.  The  body  is  so  poised  as  to  throw  the  weight  on  the 
right  foot,  which  is  close  to  the  left,  as  if  making  a  step,  and 
the  fatness  of  the  legs  is  as  noticeable  as  in  the  case  of  the  other 
effigy. 

The  third  figure  occupies  the  left  side  of  the  boulder  and 
appears  to  be  approaching  the  central  figure.  Like  that  of  the 
central  figure,  the  face  seems  to  have  a  scraggly  beard,  but 
this  detail  is  not  clear.  The  left  arm  is  not  visible,  but  the 
right  is  clearly  carved  and  in  the  hand  something  is  held,  which 
again  is  indistinct.  The  legs  look  as  if  they  were  covered 
by  a  low  boot  or  cothurnus,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the 
sculptures  at  Persepolis.  In  pose  the  figure  is  quite  lifelike. 

From  the  standpoint  of  art  the  figures  are  crude  and  heavy, 
although  not  wholly  lacking  in  effectiveness.  The  plumpness 
of  the  legs  in  each  case  is  striking,  and  it  reminded  me  of  the 
bas-reliefs  over  the  inscriptions  of  Darius  which  I  had  been 


212  THE   GREAT  BE  HI  STAN  ROCK 

examining,  and  also  of  some  of  the  Achsemenian  sculptures 
at  Persepolis.  There  was  no  evidence  of  the  flowing  trousers 
or  the  balloon-shaped  hats  that  belong  to  the  Sasanian  period. 
On  the  whole  I  believe  that  the  sculptures  on  this  monolith 
near  the  Behistan  rock  are  to  be  ascribed  to  the  Achsemenian 
era  rather  than  to  any  other. 

Time  was  now  up,  and  I  left  the  scene  of  the  great  inscrip- 
tion on  Friday  afternoon,  April  17,  feeling  painfully  aware 
that  I  might  have  accomplished  more  if  my  time  had  been 
longer  and  my  means  greater,  but  happy  in  heart  at  the  thought 
of  having  possibly  contributed  something  toward  our  better 
knowledge  of  the  Behistan  text  of  the  inscription  of  Darius, 
and  inspired  by  the  hope  that  an  opportunity  may  in  some  way 
be  offered  me  to  go  again  and  complete  such  parts  as  had  to  be 
left  undone  at  the  moment. 


CHAPTER   XV 
TAK-I  BOSTAN  AND   KERMANSHAH 

'  Near  Kermanshah,  and  between  Hamadan  and  Hoi  van,  is  the  Castle  of 
Shirin.  The  name  Shirin  in  Persian  signifies  "  sweet,"  and  she  was  the  favorite 
slave  of  King  Parviz.'  — YAKUT,  Majma^  al-Buldan,  s.v.  Kirmasm. 

THE  crags  of  Mount  Bisitun  looked  black  and  gloomy 
through  a  mass  of  fog  in  the  early  dawn  as  I  rode  out  of  the 
manzil,  after  my  first  two  days  at  the  scene  of  the  inscription, 
and  directed  my  way  toward  the  city  of  Kermanshah  and  the 
beautiful  villa  of  Tak-i  Bostan  in  its  environs.  This  latter 
place  was  a  famous  park  in  Sasanian  times,  thirteen  centuries 
ago,  and  it  is  still  renowned  for  its  ancient  sculptures.  As 
it  was  necessary  to  make  only  a  slight  detour  on  my  way  to 
reach  it,  I  decided  to  go  to  Tak-i  Bostan  before  proceeding  to 
Kermanshah.1 

My  road  lay  through  a  rolling  plain  bounded  on  the  north 
by  the  mountain  ridge  of  Kuh  Paro,  which  runs  from  Bisitun 
to  Tak-i  Bostan,  and  on  the  south  by  spurs  of  the  great  range 
of  hills  that  extend  past  Kermanshah  into  Luristan.  This 
tract  of  country  is  one  of  the  richest  pasture-lands  in  Persia 
and  is  renowned  for  the  good  horses  which  it  produces  and  for 
which  Persia  has  ever  been  famous.2  It  is  well  watered  by  the 
Gamasiab  River,  which  runs  past  Bisitun,  and  the  river  Karasu, 
which  joins  with  the  latter  not  far  from  Kermanshah  and  con- 
verts the  region  into  a  succession  of  meadows.  The  nomad 
tribes  of  the  Iliats  pitch  their  black  tents  for  a  longer  stay  with 

1  In  point  of  time  this  chapter  falls  2  Darius  calls  Persia  the  land  '  of 

between    my  two    different    sojourns      good  horses '  (uvaspa)  in  his  inscrip- 
at  Bisitun,    which  I  have   combined      tion,  Dar.  Pers.  d.  8. 
in  the  preceding  chapter. 

213 


214  TAK-I  BOS  TAN  AND   KERMANSHAH 

their  flocks  when  they  reach  this  fertile  belt,  and  they  dot  the 
green  plains  for  miles  with  their  portable  villages.  My  own 
small  caravan  quickened  its  pace  as  the  sun  burned  the  mist 
away,  and  we  traversed  the  twenty  miles  quickly,  reaching 
Tak-i  Bostan  before  ten,  having  passed  in  that  time  to  scenes 
associated  with  events  a  thousand  years  later  than  Achserne- 
nian  Bisitun.  The  sculptures  of  Darius  and  the  carvings  of 
the  Parthian  Gotarzes  gave  place  to  bas-reliefs  cut  by  Sasanian 
kings,  and  the  cuneiform  characters  of  the  Achsemenian  inscrip- 
tions were  transformed  into  the  cursive  ligatures  of  the  Pahlavi 
script  of  the  Middle  Persian  period. 

Tak-i  Bostan  lies  about  four  miles  northeast  of  Kermanshah 
and  now  forms  part  of  the  estate  of  a  wealthy  Persian  land- 
owner, the  late  Haji  Agha  Hasan,  Vakil  ad-Daulah,  4  Deputy 
of  State,'  and  British  agent  at  Kermanshah.  The  people 
look  upon  the  enclosure  as  a  pleasure  ground,  and  many 
of  them  have  forgotten  that  it  was  once  a  chosen  seat  of  the 
Sasanian  kings.  Its  situation  is  certainly  a  delightful  one. 
Couched  at  the  base  of  the  mountain  ridge  that  runs  from 
Bisitun,  and  richly  supplied  with  water  that  springs  from  the 
mountain's  feet  and  converts  the  enclosure  into  a  garden,  the 
place  when  I  saw  it  showed  traces  of  the  veritable  paradise 
that  it  must  have  been  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  Sasanidse. 

The  name  Tak-i  Bostdn,  which  often  sounds  like  Tdgh-i  Bos- 
ton, or  is  even  turned  into  '  Taw-ou-stdn '  by  a  slovenly  labial 
pronunciation  among  the  peasants,  means  'Arch  of  the  Garden' 
and  is  given  to  the  enclosure  because  of  the  arched  recesses 
carved  in  the  rocky  base  of  the  mountain.  The  place  is  often 
called  also  Takht-i  Bostdn,  'Throne  of  the  Garden,'  appar- 
ently from  a  stone  ledge  cut  high  in  the  rock  above  the  arches 
and  approached  by  a  hundred  or  more  steps  in  the  face  of  the 
cliff.  *  In  earlier  times  it  was  sometimes  popularly  known  as 

1  The  Arab  geographer  Ibn  Rostah  Kitdb  al-A'ldk  an-Naflsah,  ed.  De 
(about  A. D.  950)  speaks  of  these  steps  Goeje,  Bibl.  Geog.  Arab.  7.  166. 
as  numbering  *  about  250,'  in  his  See  p.  224,  below. 


THE  SCULPTURED  PANEL  AT  TAK-I  BOSTAN 
(From  de  Morgan,  Mission  Scientiftque  en  Perse) 


A    GARDEN   OF   THE  SASANIAN  KINGS  215 

Shabdiz,  from  the  statue  of  Khosru's  horse,  and  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  Kasr-i  Shirin,  '  Castle  of  Shirin,'  from  the  beauti- 
ful favorite  of  Khosru  Parviz.  The  former  name  we  know 
from  Ibn  Rostah  and  Al-Hamadhani,  a  thousand  years  ago,1 
and  the  latter,  4  Shirin's  Castle,'  from  Yakut,  two  centuries 
later,  who  mentions  it  as  a  place  containing  the  remains  of 
'many  porticoes,  halls,  pavilions,  great  vaulted  arches,  lofty 
terraces,  gardens,  and  a  park,  which  surpassed  in  magnificence 
even  the  splendor  of  its  royal  founder.'2  The  name  Kasr-i 
Shirin,  however,  belongs  more  strictly  to  the  great  mass  of 
ruins  known  by  that  title  some  eighty  miles  westward  from 
Kermanshah,  near  the  Turkish  border. 

A  wall  surrounds  the  park  of  Tak-i  Bostan,  and  as  we  pass 
through  the  crumbling  gateway  we  find  ourselves  directly  on 
the  edge  of  a  miniature  lake,  a  reservoir  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  yards  square,  fed  by  the  waters  which  burst  from 
beneath  the  massive  rock  that  overlooks  its  crystal  surface, 
and  find  outlet  in  the  reservoir  below,  whence  they  stream 
through  a  number  of  channels  used  for  irrigation.  A  path- 
way shaded  by  willows  leads  around  the  pond,  and  by  the 
water's  edge  and  near  its  channels  there  are  to  be  seen  sev- 
eral fragments  of  white  marble  columns,  capitals  of  pillars, 
and  some  broken  pieces  of  statuary  dating  from  Sasanian 
times.3  A  comparatively  modern  two-story  building  belong- 
ing to  the  Vakil  ad-Daulah  stands  as  a  pavilion  on  the 
edge  of  the  pond  at  the  point  where  the  water  rushes  into 
it.4  The  whole  scene  when  I  saw  it,  clothed  in  the  rich 
green  of  springtime  and  set  off  by  a  background  of  blue  sky 

1  Ibn  Rostah,  ed.  De  Goeje,  7.  166  4  This  villa  does  not  appear  in  the 
(see  preceding  note),  and  Al-Hama-  sketch  made  nearly  a  century  ago  by 
dhani,    ed.    De     Goeje,    5.     214-215  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  169,  pi.  61,  nor 
(Shabdiz)  and  5.  211  (Kasr-i  Shirin).  were  the  reservoirs  full,  judging  from 

2  Yakut,  p.  448 ;  cf.  also  pp.  438,  his  drawing  and   description   of    the 
345.  place,  but  the  water  is  to  be  seen  in 

3  Drawings  of  these  may  be  seen  in  Flandin's    plate    (Voyage    en   Perse, 
Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,    1.   pi.   3),  which  I    have 
Ancienne,  1.  plates  1-14,  17,  172.  reproduced  below. 


216  TAK-I  BOSTAN  AND   KERMANSHAH 

that  brought  the  rugged  outline  of  the  bare  hills  into  bolder 
relief,  was  picturesque  in  the  extreme  and  reminded  me  of 
some  Italian  villa  ;  but  I  can  imagine  that  much  of  its  beauty 
may  be  lost  when  the  water  of  the  reservoirs  dries  up  or  is 
reduced  to  a  running  stream,  which  happens  in  the  drought 
of  summer. 

To  the  visitor  at  Tak-i  Bostan  the  most  interesting  feature  is 
the  collection  of  Sasanian  bas-reliefs  sculptured  in  two  large 
grottos  that  are  hewn  in  the  bosom  of  the  rock  and  carved 
upon  a  panel  on  its  lower  surface.  These  sculptures  are  per- 
haps the  best  extant  examples  of  Sasanian  art,  and  they  show 
Roman  influence  of  the  Byzantine  period,  with  a  possible  trace 
of  Greek  art  due  to  Alexander's  conquest.1  There  are  three 
separate  groups  of  bas-reliefs,  and  I  shall  discuss  them  in 
the  order  of  their  arrangement,  and  probable  sequence  of 
time.  I  shall  begin  with  the  one  on  the  panel  at  the  base 
of  the  rock,  then  proceed  to  the  two  statues  in  the  smaller 
grotto,  and  conclude  with  the  elaborate  sculptures  in  the 
larger  vaulted  recess. 

The  first  set  of  bas-reliefs  and  presumably  the  oldest,  although 
this  is  not  certain,  consists  of  four  figures  carved  on  a  smoothed 
surface  of  the  rock  next  to  the  villa  and  covering  an  expanse  of 
about  eighteen  feet  by  ten.  A  special  interest  attaches  to  the 
group,  as  I  have  stated  in  my  Zoroaster,  because  it  has  been 
thought  that  the  figure  to  the  extreme  left  may  represent  the 
Prophet  of  ancient  Iran.2  For  that  reason  I  devoted  particu- 
lar attention  to  it  on  the  occasion  of  my  visit  to  Tak-i 
Bostan.  I  shall  briefly  describe  the  composition  of  the  sculp- 
tured group.3 

The  two  figures  to  the  right  represent  personages  of  royal 
rank  ;  the  central  one  is  a  king  who  stands  with  a  triumphant 
air,  his  left  hand  on  his  sword  and  his  right  hand  grasping  a  rib- 

1  See  Justi,  Empire  of  the  Persians,  2  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  288-294. 

p.  258;  de    Morgan,    Mission  Scienti-  3  Consult  in  this  connection  the  ac- 

ftque,  4.  309,  333,  and  cf.  p.  221,  below.       companying  photograph. 


THE  NIMBUS-CROWNED  FIGURE 


SASANIAN  BAS-RELIEFS  217 

bon-decked  coronet,  which  he  receives  from  or  bestows  upon  a 
second  personage  of  lofty  bearing.  The  latter  stands  before 
him  with  the  right  hand  on  the  chaplet  and  the  left  resting 
gracefully  upon  the  hip.  Both  figures  wear  crowns,  the  central 
one  a  helmet-shaped  cap  surmounted  by  the  globular  adorn- 
ment commonly  seen  in  the  sculptures  of  the  Sasanian  kings, 
but  conventionalized  here  into  a  bulb,  the  other  wearing  a 
mural  crown,  beneath  which  thick,  flowing  hair  is  seen.  Both 
figures  have  the  characteristic  Sasanian  head-decoration  (sar- 
push)  of  streamers  and  veil  hanging  down  behind,  and  the 
remainder  of  their  ornaments  and  dress  belong  also  to  that 
period.  So  much  for  the  two  royal  personages. 

Directly  behind  the  central  figure  stands  a  third,  differing 
from  the  other  two  in  that  he  has  his  head  encircled  by  a  halo 
of  rays  and  his  feet  resting  upon  a  heavily  carved  sunflower, 
while  he  raises  before  him  in  both  hands  a  long  fluted  staff. 
This  image  the  Parsis  of  India,  as  well  as  the  Gabars  of  Persia, 
have  taken  to  represent  Zoroaster,  and  they  have  made  it  the 
basis  of  all  the  pictures  of  their  Prophet,  a  matter  which  I  dis- 
cussed with  them  in  Bombay  and  likewise  at  Yezd.  For  this 
reason  I  shall  give  further  details  regarding  the  sculpture, 
making  use  largely  of  my  memoranda  as  I  jotted  them  down 
on  the  spot,  and  then  I  shall  briefly  touch  upon  the  question  of 
the  identification  of  the  image. 

The  outlines  of  the  figure  are  good,  and  in  general  the  pose 
is  excellent,  the  weight  being  thrown  slightly  upon  the  left 
foot.  The  body  is  clothed  in  a  tunic-like  robe,  belted  at  the 
waist  and  richly  set  off  at  the  neck  by  an  embroidered  border 
with  tassels.  The  elaborateness  of  this  decoration  makes  it 
difficult  to  decide  whether  a  necklace  is  worn  (as  appears  in 
the  case  of  the  central  figure)  or  whether  the  band  at  the 
throat  is  a  part  of  the  decorative  edging  of  the  garment.  The 
tunic  itself  falls  into  natural  folds,  the  effect  of  which  is  particu- 
larly good  in  respect  to  the  wrinkles  at  the  elbow;  and  the 
tunic  is  decorated  quite  as  much  as  those  of  the  other  two  figures, 


218  TAK-l  BOSTAN  AND    KERMANSHAH 

although  the  belt  is  simpler  than  the  ornate  girdle  of  the  central 
figure  and  is  more  like  the  belt  of  the  figure  to  the  right. 
The  nimbus  about  the  head  is  sharply  cut,  and  a  cap  of  some 
sort,  though  not  surmounted  by  the  globular  ornament,  covers 
rich  hair  which  can  still  be  seen  despite  the  damaged  condition 
of  the  statue.  It  looks  as  if  earrings  might  have  been  worn, 
but  this  is  uncertain  because  we  have  no  evidence  of  such  a 
decoration  in  the  case  of  the  other  figures.  The  upper  lip  is 
covered  with  a  short  straight  mustache,  and  the  chin  is  bearded 
with  a  curly  beard.  The  expression  of  the  face  is  hard  to 
catch  because  the  eyes,  nose,  and  forehead  have  been  destroyed, 
probably  at  the  time  of  the  Mohammedan  conquest,  by  some 
iconoclast  that  carried  out  the  commandment  of  the  Koran 
against  graven  images.  The  staff  in  the  hand  has  not  been 
broken,  however,  and  the  grooved  lines  which  run  parallel  with 
its  entire  length  are  plainly  visible  and  resemble  the  flutings  on 
the  scabbard  of  the  middle  figure.  As  in  the  case  of  the 
others,  the  peculiar  head-dress  with  crinkled  streamers,  and  the 
wavy  scarf  flowing  down  from  the  shoulders  to  a  point  below 
the  waist  are  particularly  noticeable.1  The  trousers  are  flowing 
and  heavily  fringed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  two  figures,  and 
the  footgear,  which  appears  to  include  spurs,  is  quite  the  same 
as  theirs.  The  sunflower  beneath  the  feet  of  the  image,  an 
early  symbol  of  sun-worship,  is  a  triple  flower,  and  the  stem 
from  which  it  rises  is  clearly  marked.  The  size  of  the  entire 
statue  is  more  than  that  of  an  ordinary  man,  being  seven  feet 
from  crown  to  foot.2 

1  A  crack  in  the  rock  has  cut  the  Bostan  :  Height  of  the  image,  7  ft. 
sar-push  in  two,  and  in  this  fissure  a  (213  cm.)  ;  breadth  across  the  shoul- 
plant  had  taken  root,  but  I  had  it  dug  ders,  2  ft.  (62  cm.)  ;  height  of  head, 
out  so  that  it  should  not  enlarge  the  including  cap,  1  ft.   7  in.   (48  cm.)  ; 
split  and  damage  the  sculpture  any  length  from  waist   to   top   of    head, 
more  than  it  has  done.  3  ft.  $  in.  (93  cm.)  ;  length  from  waist 

2  I  add  here  the  more  important  to  sole  of  foot,  3  ft.  11}  in.  (120  cm.)  ; 
measurements  of    this   figure,   which  diameter  of   sunflower,   2  ft.   4f  in. 
I   took   with    the    assistance    of    the  (72  cm.) ;  length  of  staff,  nearly  4  ft. 
Rev.  N.  L.  Euwer,  of  Hamadan,  who  (119  c.m). 

accompanied  me  on  my  visit  to  Tak-i 


THE  SCULPTURED  FIGURE  OF  THE  FALLEN  FOE  AT  TAK-I  BOSTAN 


THl 

^ 
Of 

*   '     '       •     :•- 


A    GROUP    OF  FOUR  FIGURES  219 

A  fourth  figure  completes  the  group.  It  is  that  of  a  prostrate 
warrior  who  is  trampled  beneath  the  feet  of  the  two  victorious 
kings,  the  one  of  whom  to  the  right  tramples  upon  his  head,  the 
other  upon  his  feet.  The  head  of  the  fallen  foeman  rests  limply 
upon  the  left  arm  in  a  manner  intended,  apparently,  to  portray 
death.  The  helmet,  which  differs  from  the  others,  is  decorated 
by  a  band  that  seems  to  be  jewelled  and  is  set  off  by  large 
bosses,  which  might  be  thought  to  be  pearls  in  a  massive  setting, 
but  are  more  probably  the  studding  of  the  iron-nailed  crown  of 
the  Parthian  kings.1  The  face  is  bearded,  although  the  whiskers 
are  not  curly  like  the  others.  In  the  case  of  this  figure  also 
iconoclasts  have  perpetrated  their  vandalistic  work.  The  entire 
trunk  of  the  body  has  been  shattered  to  such  a  degree  that  much 
of  the  effect  of  the  sculpture  is  lost;  but  the  remains  of  the 
sword,  although  much  damaged,-  can  be  traced  beneath  the 
body,  and  the  scabbard  is  marked  with  sharp  grooves,  which 
show  up  sufficiently  to  be  noticed  and  compared  with  the 
furrows  on  the  sheath  of  the  central  figure,  which  they  re- 
semble. The  folds  of  the  mantle,  moreover,  can  be  clearly 
seen  at  the  arms,  neck,  and  shoulders,  and  there  is  a  jewelled 
collar  or  necklace  worn  about  the  throat.  The  legs  of  the 
fallen  enemy  have  a  different  sort  of  buskin  from  the  others, 
but  in  size  the  image  is  not  less  heroic  than  they,  since  it  meas- 
ures 7  ft.  2J  in.  (220  cm.)  in  length  from  head  to  foot. 

The  question  of  the  identity  of  this  and  the  other  three 
figures  of  the  group,  as  I  have  stated  in  the  book  already 
referred  to,  is  still  open  to  discussion.2  The  trend  of  present 
opinion  is  against  identifying  the  nimbus-crowned  figure  with 
Zoroaster,  even  though  opinions  may  vary  as  to  the  other 
three  effigies.  The  latest  and  best  authority  on  the  subject, 
Professor  Ferdinand  Justi  of  Marburg,  maintains  the  view  which 
he  formerly  expressed  to  the  effect  that  it  represents  the  sun- 

1  For  the  nail-studded    helmet   of      Jasti,     Grundr.     iran.     Philol.      2. 
the    Parthian    kings    Vologases    and      515-516. 
Artaban    at    Naksh-i    Rustam,    see  2  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  289-293. 


220  TAK-I  BOSTAN  AND   KERMANSHAH 

god  Mithra,  that  the  central  figure  is  Ardashir  I,  and  that  the 
figure  to  the  right  is  Ormazd,  who  is  bestowing  upon  him  a  chap- 
let  of  victory  on  the  occasion  of  his  overthrow  of  the  Parthian 
dynasty  represented  by  Artaban  V,  the  fallen  foe.1  I  must  con- 
fess that,  although  the  radiated  figure  may  not  portray  Zoroaster 
personally,  it  represents  to  me  an  embodiment  of  the  religion,  the 
authority  of  church  and  state  combined  in  some  Magian  vizir, 
or  priestly  chancellor,  who  blesses  the  occasion  by  his  presence, 
while  the  other  figures  seem  to  me  to  represent  Ardashir  and 
his  son  Sapor  (Shahpur),  triumphing  over  the  fallen  fortunes 
of  the  Parthian  dynasty  represented  by  Artaban  at  their  feet.2 
The  second  group  of  bas-reliefs  is  carved  in  the  smaller  of  the 
vaulted  chambers,  a  few  yards  beyond  the  sculptures  just 
described,  and  the  identity  of  the  personages  is  fortunately 
given  by -inscriptions  adjoining  the  images.  The  two  effigies 
are  carved  in  the  tympanum  of  the  vaulted  recess,  and  the 
vault  itself  is  nearly  twenty  feet  wide  by  seventeen  high  and 
twelve  deep.  The  sculptures  represent  two  kings,  larger  than 
life  size,  standing  side  by  side.  Each  monarch  holds  perpen- 
dicularly before  him  a  sword,  blade  downward,  the  point  of 
which  rests  upon  the  ground,  while  the  hilt  is  clasped  in  both 
hands  which  rest  over  it.  The  style  of  dress,  including  the 
balloon-shaped  headgear,  is  characteristically  Sasanian  and  the 
identity  of  each  king  is  made  known  by  the  inscription  beside 
it.  Sapor  II,  son  of  Hormizd,  stands  to  the  right,  and  his  son 
Sapor  III  to  the  left.  The  former  reigned  for  seventy  years 
(A.D.  309-379)  during  a  period  which  was  one  of  the  brightest 
in  Sasanian  history,  though  stained  by  cruel  persecution  of  the 

1  See  Justi,   Life  and    Legend  of  come  and  trodden  under  foot.     They 

Zarathushtra  in  Avesta  Studies,  etc.,  regard  the  figure  with  the  halo  as  prob- 

in   Honour    of   Peshotanji    Sanjana,  ably  Zoroaster,  and  seem  to  associate 

p.   157,  Strassburg,  1904.     The  Zoro-  it  in  some  way  with  a  sculpture  at 

astrians  of    Yezd    gave    me  a  ineta-  Balkh,  but  they  did  not  appear  to  be 

physical  explanation  of  the  sculpture,  quite  positive  on  the  subject, 
interpreting    the    prostrate   figure    as  2  See  also  my  Zoroaster,  p.  291. 

representing  one's  evil  nature    over- 


THE  LARGER  AND  THE  SMALLER  ARCH 


TAK-I  BOSTAN,  OR  THE  ARCHED  GARDEN 


STATUES  IN  THE  SMALLER  ARCH          221 

Christians  in  Persia  ;  the  latter,  Sapor  III,  ruled  only  five 
years  (A.D.  383-388)  and  was  then  assassinated  in  an  uprising 
of  the  soldiers  and  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Bahrain  IV,  the 
founder  of  Kermanshah.1 

The  larger  arch  directly  adjoins  the  smaller  recess  and  is 
nearly  double  its  size,  measuring  twenty-four  feet  in  width, 
twenty-two  in  depth,  and  more  than  thirty  in  height.  It  is  far 
more  elaborate  in  its  arrangement  and  more  ornate  in  its  deco- 
ration, and  contains  several  sets  of  carvings  instead  of  a  single 
group.  Around  the  outer  edge  of  the  arch  there  is  carved  in 
alto-relievo  a  border  that  resembles  a  heavy  cording  faced  with 
a  notched  beadwork  of  a  lotus  pattern,  which  lends  a  graceful 
finish  to  the  sweep.  The  base  of  the  arch  is  balanced  on  either 
side  by  heavily  carved  panels  filled  with  conventional  floral 
designs  in  scroll-form.  The  framework  above  the  vault  is  cut 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  resemble  miniature  battlements,  and  a 
streamered  crescent  in  high  relief  crowns  the  point  which  would 
correspond  to  a  keystone  in  mason-work.  On  either  side  of 
this  emblem  hover  two  winged  Victories,  like  angels,2  bearing 
coronets  and  cups,  and  they  are  sculptured  in  Roman  style. 
The  design  throughout  shows  the  influence  of  Byzantine  art 
and  is  thought  to  have  been  executed  by  Grecian  artists  from 
Constantinople  —  an  inference  which  would  be  borne  out  by 
the  statement  of  Al-Hamadhani,  that  4  the  sculptor  was  Fatus 
(or  Katus)  ibn  Sinimmar  Rumi  (i.e.  of  Rum,  the  Byzantine 
Empire),  who  was  the  architect  also  of  Khvarnak  in  Kufah.'3 

1  See  Justi,  Grundr.  Iran.  Philol  2.  2  See  p.  142,  above. 

525,  and  for  reproductions  of  the  sculp-  3  Al-Hamadhani,    ed.    De     Goeje, 

tures  and  inscriptions,  consult  Flandin,  Bibl.  Geog.  Arab.  5.  214.     For  a  more 

Voyage   en  Perse,  Ancienne,  1.  pi.  3  detailed  description  of  this  arch  and 

(from  which  my  photograph  is  taken)  ;  the  other,  see  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2. 

Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  188;  Dieulafoy,  169-195;  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  560-563  ; 

L'Art  Antique,  5.  115,  120,  122  ;  and  de    Morgan,   Mission    Scientifique,  4. 

(especially  for  the  inscription)  consult  304-335.    See  also  Justi,  Grundr.  Iran. 

de   Morgan,  Mission   Scientijique,  2.  Philol.  2.  527.     For  the  name  Fatus  or 

104-105,    pi.  xxxi  ;    4.    310-318,    pi.  Katus  (perhaps  a  disguised  form  of 

xxxvi,  and  fig.  185.  Farhad),  see  p.  226,  n.  2,  below. 


222  TAK-I  BO  STAN  AND   KEEMANSHAH 

On  the  outer  wall,  adjoining  the  steps  to  the  right,  there  has 
been  cut  in  recent  times  a  panel,  which  looks  like  a  church 
window,  and  in  it  is  carved  a  modern  Persian  inscription  corn- 
memoratiDg  a  visit  of  the  late  Shah  Nasr  ad-Din.  This,  how- 
ever, has  nothing  to  do  with  the  grotto  or  its  sculptures,  which 
antedate  it  by  thirteen  centuries.  These  carvings  (although 
two  centuries  later  than  the  bas-reliefs  which  have  previously 
been  described,  and  showing  a  corresponding  advance  beyond 
them  in  the  matter  of  artistic  design  and  execution)  are  to  be 
assigned  to  the  time  of  the  Sasanian  king  Khosru  Parviz. 

Khosru  Parviz,  with  whom  we  have  already  become  acquainted 
as  Chosroes  II  in  the  chapter  on  Takht-i  Suleiman,  had  a  reign 
of  nearly  forty  years  (A.D.  590-628)  and  enjoyed  great  pros- 
perity during  a  part  of  it,  although  his  later  years  were  marred 
with  misfortune  and  darkened  by  defeat.  The  present  sculp- 
tures were  made  when  he  was  at  the  zenith  of  his  fortune,  and 
they  portray  happy  scenes  in  his  life.  As  we  enter  the  vaulted 
chamber  we  see  carved  on  the  right  a  hunting-scene  in  which 
the  king  is  engaged  in  pursuit  of  the  deer  —  a  favorite  sport 
with  the  Persian  kings  from  the  time  of  Cyrus  the  Great  — 
and  on  the  left  is  chiselled  a  panel  showing  Khosru  hunting 
the  wild  boar.  Each  of  the  groups  is  spirited  in  conception, 
although  imperfect  in  execution,  especially  in  the  manner  of 
representing  perspective  ;  the  panel  of  the  boar  hunt,  more- 
over, appears  not  to  have  been  completely  finished  and  polished. 
Nevertheless,  both  bas-reliefs  have  a  historic  interest  and  an 
archaeological  value.  Still  more  important  are  the  two 
great  bas-reliefs  on  the  rear  wall,  and  I  shall  describe  these 
with  some  detail. 

The  wall  is  divided  by  a  carved  ledge  into  two  parts,  an 
upper  and  a  lower.  The  lower  portion  is  devoted  to  a  huge 
equestrian  statue  of  Khosru,  representing  him  as  mounted  upon 
a  war-horse  of  gigantic  size.  This  is  Khosru's  favorite  charger 
Shabdiz,  c  Black  as  Night,'  a  steed  praised  by  Oriental  writers 
as  the  nonpareil  of  horses.  He  is  caparisoned  in  heavy  war- 


SCULPTURES  IN  THE  LARGER  ARCH         223 

trappings,  the  poitrel,  or  metal  flounce  which  protects  his  chest, 
being  richly  ornamented  with  tassels  artistically  chiselled,  but 
here  again  iconoclasts  have  marred  the  effect  of  the  figure  by 
mutilating  the  animal's  head  and  legs.  The  royal  rider  is  of 
superhuman  size  and  is  clad  in  massive  armor.  A  coat  of  mail 
covers  his  body,  a  casque  with  chain  hangings  protects  his 
head,  and  a  round  shield  held  in  the  left  hand  guards  his 
breast,  while  the  right  hand  poises  an  enormous  spear.  All 
the  details  of  the  king's  accoutrements,  including  the  quiver 
at  his  side,  are  executed  with  great  care  and  will  bear  the 
closest  scrutiny  of  the  archaeologist. 

The  upper  part  of  the  rear  wall  is  occupied  by  a  threefold 
group  resting  upon  the  carved  ledge  directly  above  the  eques- 
trian statue.  In  the  middle  of  the  group  stands  the  king  in 
full  regalia,  holding  his  sword  before  him,  with  the  point  rest- 
ing upon  the  ground.  With  his  right  hand  he  receives  a  chap- 
let  decked  with  streamers,  which  is  presented  by  a  bearded  figure 
clad  in  a  long  mantle  belted  at  the  waist,  a  tunic,  and  heavy 
trousers  that  do  not  reach  quite  to  the  ankle.  The  third  figure, 
directly  at  the  king's  right,  is  that  of  a  woman,  who  presents 
to  the  king  a  garland  of  victory  and  pours  upon  the  ground  at 
the  same  time  a  libation  from  a  vessel  held  in  her  left  hand.1 
There  is  no  doubt  that  in  this  threefold  group,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  equestrian  statue,  the  king  is  Khosru,  but  before  I  dis- 
cuss the  interpretation  of  the  scene  that  is  represented  I  shall 
quote  from  some  of  the  Oriental  writers  who  described  this 
bas-relief  and  the  equestrian  statue  a  thousand  years  ago. 

The  earliest  notice  of  the  sculptures  that  I  have  been  able 'to 
find  is  the  one  quoted  above  from  Al-Hamadhani  (A.D.  903)  who 
devotes  to  '  Shabdiz  and  its  wonders '  a  section  in  his  geographi- 
cal work  written  about  three  centuries  after  Khosru's  time. 


1  The  photograph  which  I  have  of  thousand    years  ago,  although    some 

the  group  no  longer  leaves  any  doubt  later  writers  have  been  in  doubt  on 

that  the  figure  is  that  of  a  woman,  as  the  subject, 
stated  also  by  the  Oriental  writers  a 


224  TAK-I  BOSTAN  AND  KERMANSHAH 

1  It  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world,  and  its  sculptor  was  Fatus 
(or  Katus)  ibn  Sinimmar  Rumi,  who  was  the  builder  of  Khvarnak  in 
Kufah.'  (He  then  devotes  a  paragraph  to  the  praises  of  the  horse 
Shabdiz,  and  says  that  if  two  men  came  from  the  farthest  ends  of 
Iran,  Ferghana,  and  Susa,  to  see  the  sculpture  they  would  not  have 
any  occasion  to  regret  the  journey.)1 

To  the  same  period  belongs  the  more  detailed  notice  by  Abu 
Dulaf  Misar  (A.D.  940),  quoted  by  Yakut. 

'The  monument  of  Shabdiz  is  one  farsakh  from  the  town  of 
Kirmasin  (Kermanshah).  Carved  there  in  the  rock  is  the  figure  of 
a  warrior  whose  head  is  surmounted  by  a  helmet  and  whose  body  is 
protected  by  a  coat  of  mail.  The  workmanship  of  the  armor  is  so 
perfect  that  you  would  declare  that  the  joints  of  the  mail-coat  were 
movable  and  twisted  as  you  examined  them.  The  statue  is  that  of 
[Khosru]  Par  viz  mounted  upon  his  horse  Shabdiz,  and  as  a  sculpture 
there  is  nothing  comparable  with  it  in  the  world.  In  the  same  arch 
there  are  also  several  carved  figures  of  men,  women,  footsoldiers,  and 
horsemen.  Before  the  king 2  there  stands  a  man  who  looks  like  a 
workman.  Upon  his  head  he  wears  a  round  cap  and  about  his  waist 
a  girdle.  In  his  hand  he  holds  a  cup,  out  of  which  he  pours  water 
upon  the  earth,  and  it  seems  to  run  under  his  feet.  .  .  .3  [The  third 
figure]  is  the  image  of  Shirin,  the  favorite  slave  of  Parviz. ' 4 

A  third  writer  belonging  to  the  same  epoch,  Ibn  Rostah 
(about  A.D.  900-950),  gives  a  similar  account. 

'It  is  a  distance  of  three  farsakhs  from  Kirmasin  to  Shabdiz. 
The  latter  is  an  arched  recess  hewn  in  the  mountain,  and  in  it  there 
are  pictures  of  various  birds  and  other  representations.  In  the  bosom 
of  the  vault  there  is  a  sculpture  of  a  man  wearing  a  coat  of  mail,  and 
in  front  of  him  the  effigy  of  a  woman,  who,  they  say,  is  Shirin ;  and 
on  the  side  of  the  arch  is  a  figure  of  a  man,  from  under  whose  feet 

1  Al-Hamadhani,  ed.  De  Goeje,  BiU.  *  Abu  Dulaf  Misar,  cited  by  Yakut, 
Geog.  Arab.  6.  214-216.  pp.  345-347.      The    attribute   of   the 

2  Here  begins  the  description  of  the  vessel  of  water  would  seem  to  refer 
threefold  group  above  the  equestrian  to  the  figure  at  the  king's  right  rather 
statue.  than  to  the  one  at  his  left,  as  seen  in 

8  Here  a  digression  is  made  by  the  the  photograph  of  the  sculpture  and 

author,   who  quotes   at    considerable  in  the  published  drawings  of  the  bas- 

length    Al-Hamadhani's    account    of  relief. 
Shabdiz. 


THE  EQUESTRIAN  STATUE   OF  KHOSRU  PARVIZ         225 

there  flows  a  stream  of  water  large  enough  to  turn  the  two  stones 
of  a  mill.  On  the  other  side  there  are  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
steps,  which  are  hewn  in  the  rock  from  below  to  above  the  arch.' l 

Contemporaneous  with  these  accounts  is  the  allusion  by  a 
fourth  writer,  the  well-known  Masudi  (A.D.  944),  who  speaks 
of  these  sculptures  of  Khosru  and  Shabdiz. 

'  He  (i.e.  the  horse  Shabdiz)  is  carved  in  the  mountain  in  the  dis- 
trict of  Kirmasin  in  the  region  of  Dinavar  and  Mah  al-Kufah.  In 
these  sciilptures  Khosru  and  the  horse  are  represented  beside  others. 
Because  of  the  marvellous  pictures  sculptured  in  the  rock,  this  place 
is  one  of  the  curiosities  and  wonders  of  the  world.7  2 

Scholarly  opinion  is  unanimous  in  agreeing  that  the  central 
figure  of  the  group  represents  Khosru,  although  the  views  differ 
with  regard  to  the  interpretation  of  the  other  two  figures,  some 
authorities  maintaining  that  the  feminine  figure  to  the  right  of 
the  king  is  Anahita,  goddess  of  the  streams,  and  that  the  effigy 
to  the  left  is  the  god  Ormazd.3  The  most  probable  identifica- 
tion, in  part  at  least,  was  given  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago 
by  the  anonymous  poet  from  whom  Yakut  quotes  a  verse  which 
gives  the  names  of  the  figures  as  4  Khosru,  Shirin,  and  the  High 
Priest  of  the  Magi.'  The  natives  to-day,  as  of  old,  all  regard 
the  feminine  figure  as  Shirin.  According  to  some  accounts  she 
was  the  daughter  of  the  Byzantine  Emperor  Mauricius,  and  a 
Christian,  and  Khosru  fell  in  love  with  her  at  the  time  when 
he  was  an  exile  from  Persia  at  her  father's  court.4  The  scene, 

1  Ibn  Rostah,  ed.  De  Goeje,  Bibl.  attributed,  by  implication,  to  Khosru 
Geog.  Arab.  7.  166.      I  am  indebted  to  Parviz.     G.  Rawlinson,  Seventh  Ori- 
Dr.  A.  Yohannan  for  this  version  from  ental  Monarchy,  pi.  facing  p.  613,  calls 
the  Arabic.  the  two  figures  by  the  side  of  the  king 

2  Masudi,  Les  Prairies  cT  Or,  ch.  24,  '  emblematic.' 

ed.  Barbier  de  Meynard,  2.  215.     For  4  For  the  view  that  Shirin,  or  Sira, 

help  with  the  Arabic  I  am  again  in-  was  a  Christian,  see  Rawlinson,  Seventh 

debted  to  Dr.  Yohannan.  Oriental  Monarchy,  p.  497.     Accord- 

3  Such  a  view  is  held  by  Justi,  Em-  ing  to  Justi,  Iranisches  Namenbuch, 
pire  of  the  Persians,  p.  275  (although  p.    302,   she   was  an   Aramaean  from 
the  central  figure  is  there  called  Sapor  Khozistan  and  is  said  to  have  been  the 
II)  and  Grundr.  iran.  Philol  2.  540,  daughter  of  Mahin-Banu,  although  the 
where  the  origin  of  the  sculpture  is  latter  point  has  been  questioned. 

Q 


226  TAK-I  BOSTAN  AND   KERMANSHAH 

it  has  been  thought,  represents  Khosru  receiving  back  his  crown 
at  the  hands  of  Mauricius,  who  had  espoused  his  cause,  and 
obtaining  at  the  same  time  in  marriage  the  Princess  Shirin, 
who  bestows  upon  him  as  a  dower  a  share  in  her  crown.1 

Popular  tradition  repeats  many  legends  of  Shirin  and  Khosru, 
and  of  her  admirer  Farhad,  the  royal  sculptor,  who  was  attracted 
by  her  beauty  and  is  said  to  have  executed  the  group  at  the 
king's  command.2  The  story  of  the  enamored  artist's  passion 
was  a  favorite  theme  with  the  older  Persian  poets,  but  Nizam i 
has  carried  off  the  palm  by  his  romantic  treatment  of  it  in  his 
poem  entitled  Khosru  and  Shirin?  According  to  this  version  of 
the  story,  Khosru  discovered  the  admiration  of  Farhad  for  Shirin 
and  took  advantage  of  it  to  evoke  new  miracles  in  marble  from 
the  inspired  sculptor's  chisel  under  promise  of  receiving  Shirin's 
favors  as  a  reward,  and  to  this  fact  we  owe  the  sculptures  at 
Tak-i  Bostan,  like  many  others  in  Persia,  according  to  the 
popular  view.  Farhad's  chef  (Tceuvre,  however,  was  to  be  the 
accomplishment  of  the  herculean  task  of  cutting  a  channel 
through  Bisitun  and  leading  a  stream  from  the  other  side  of 
the  valley,  after  which  the  longed-for  boon  was  to  be  bestowed. 
Nizami's  verses  immortalize  the  achievement  of  the  task  and  its 
fatal  consequences ;  I  quote  them  from  a  free  poetic  version  in 
English.4 

'  On  lofty  Beysitoun  the  lingering  sun 
Looks  down  on  ceaseless  labours,  long  begun : 
The  mountain  trembles  to  the  echoing  sound 
Of  falling  rocks,  that  from  her  sides  rebound. 
Each  day  —  all  respite,  all  repose  denied, 
No  truce,  no  pause  —  the  thundering  strokes  are  plied ; 
The  mist  of  night  around  her  summit  coils, 
But  still  Ferhad,  the  lover-artist,  toils, 

1  Thus  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  186,  disguised  form  as  Fatiis  or  Katus  in 
and  after  him  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  561-  Al-Hamadhani,  quoted  above,  p.   224. 
662  ;  Kiash,  Ancient  Persian  Inscrip-  8  See  also  pp.  5,  84,  188,  above. 
tions,  p.  198,  Bombay,  1889.                            *  Quoted  by  Costello,  Rose  Garden 

2  It  might  possibly  be  suggested  that  of  Persia,  pp.  84-92,  London,   1845, 
the  name  of  Farhad  is  preserved  in  a  1887;  new  ed.,  pp.  91-97,  London,  181)9. 


FARHAD'S    TRAGIC  LOVE  FOR  SHIRIN  227 

And  still  —  the  flashes  of  his  axe  between  — 
He  sighs  to  ev'ry  wind,  "  Alas  !  Shireen ! 
Alas  !  Shireen !  —  my  task  is  well-nigh  done, 
The  goal  in  view  for  which  I  strive  alone. 
Love  grants  me  powers  that  Nature  might  deny ; 
And,  whatsoe'er  my  doom,  the  world  shall  tell, 
Thy  lover  gave  to  immortality 
Her  name  he  loved  —  so  fatally  —  so  well ! " 

The  piles  give  way,  the  rocky  peaks  divide, 
The  stream  comes  gushing  on  —  a  foaming  tide ! 
A  mighty  work,  for  ages  to  remain, 
The  token  of  his  passion  and  his  pain. 

As  flows  the  milky  flood  from  Allah's  throne, 
Rushes  the  torrent  from  the  yielding  stone ; 
And  sculptured  there,  amazed,  stern  Khosru  stands, 
And  sees,  with  frowns,  obeyed  his  harsh  commands : 
While  she,  the  fair  beloved,  with  being  rife, 
Awakes  the  glowing  marble  into  life.  .  .  . 

Around  the  pair,  lo !  groups  of  courtiers  wait, 
And  slaves  and  pages  crowd  in  solemn  state ; 
Prom  columns  imaged  wreaths  their  garlands  throw, 
And  fretted  roofs  with  stars  appear  to  glow ; 
Fresh  leaves  and  blossoms  seem  around  to  spring, 
And  feathered  songs  their  loves  are  murmuring ; 
The  hands  of  Peris  might  have  wrought  those  stems, 
Where  dewdrops  hang  their  fragile  diadems ; 
And  springs  of  pearl  and  sharp-cut  diamonds  shine, 
New  from  the  wave,  or  recent  from  the  mine. 

"  Alas,  Shireen  !  "  at  every  stroke  he  cries ; 
At  every  stroke  fresh  miracles  arise. 
"  For  thee  these  glories  and  these  wonders  all, 
For  thee  I  triumph,  or  for  thee  I  fall ; 
For  thee  my  life  one  ceaseless  toil  has  been, 
Inspire  my  soul  anew  —  Alas,  Shireen ! " 

The  sequel  of  this  rapturous  devotion  is  a  tragic  one;  the 
keynote  is  struck  in  two  lines :  — 

1  Ah,  hapless  youth !     Ah,  toil  repaid  with  woe ! 
A  king  thy  rival,  and  the  world  thy  foe.? 


228  TAK-I  BOSTAN  AND   KERMANSHAH 

Khosru,  in  his  anxiety  to  be  relieved  from  fulfilling  his  promise 
to  the  sculptor,  resorted  to  the  counsel  of  an  old  hag,  who 
engaged,  for  a  rich  reward,  to  free  the  monarch  from  the  neces- 
sity of  redeeming  his  pledge.  Intrusted  with  the  task,  this 
messenger  of  evil  portent  proceeds  to  the  lofty  rock  where 
Farhad  is  employed,  and  hoarsely  whispers  her  fatal  falsehood. 

' "  Cease,  idle  youth,  to  waste  thy  days,"  she  said, 
"  By  empty  hopes  a  visionary  made ; 
Why  in  vain  toil  thy  fleeting  life  consume 
To  frame  a  palace  ?  —  Bather  hew  a  toinb. 
Even  like  sere  leaves  that  autumn  winds  have  shed, 
Perish  thy  labours,  for  —  Shireen  is  dead !  " 

He  heard  the  fatal  news  —  no  word,  no  groan ; 
He  spoke  not,  moved  not,  —  stood  transfixed  to  stone. 
Then,  with  a  frenzied  start,  he  raised  on  high 
His  arms,  and  wildly  tossed  them  towards  the  sky ; 
Far  in  the  wide  expanse  his  axe  he  flung, 
And  from  the  precipice  at  once  he  sprung. 
The  rocks,  the  sculptured  caves,  the  valleys  green, 
Sent  back  his  dying  cry  —  "  Alas  !  Shireen." ' 

Even  when  robbed  of  its  poetic  garb  the  story  seems  to  have 
an  element  of  truth  as  its  basis,  and  the  legend  lends  a  romantic 
interest  to  the  '  Villa  of  Shir  in '  and  its  sculptured  halls. 

Another  monument  of  Khosru,  a  platform  on  which  royal 
assemblies  were  held,  was  located  in  the  vicinity  of  Kerman- 
shah,  according  to  Yakut,  and  probably  not  far  from  Tak-i 
Bostan.  I  shall  quote  Yakut's  own  words  describing  it :  — 

'  Near  Kermanshah  is  situated  the  famous  platform  where  Khosru 
Parviz  received  homage  in  royal  assembly  from  the  kings  of  China, 
Turan,  India,  and  Byzantium.  It  is  a  quadrilateral,  a  hundred 
cubits  long  and  a  hundred  cubits  broad,  built  of  dressed  blocks 
of  stone,  skilfully  matched  and  joined  together  by  iron  clamps  so 
closely  that  they  look  like  a  single  piece.' l 

This  description  should  be  sufficient  to  allow  an  identification 
of  the  location  of  the  platform  to  be  made,  as  some  remains  of 

i  Yakut,  p.  438. 


THE   ROAD    TO  KERMANSHAH  22$ 

the  structure  must  exist,  but  I  am  unable  to  give  any  precise 
information  on  the  subject  myself,  although  there  are  ruins 
near  Tak-i  Bostan,1  and  the  natives  point  out  some  mounds -as 
the  site  of  Khosru's  palace.2  I  noticed  also  some  marble  walls, 
and  columns  on  the  road  between  Kermanshah  and  Bisitun.3 

I  have  made  my  description  of  Tak-i  Bostan  somewhat  more 
detailed  than  otherwise  might  be  expected,  because  of  the  his- 
toric associations  connected  with  the  place,  and  we  may  now 
resume  our  journey  to  Kermanshah,  which  lies  about  four  miles 
to  the  south-southwest  on  rising  ground  that  commands  a  con- 
siderable view  over  the  plain. 

To  reach  the  city  I  found  it  was  necessary  to  take  a  some- 
what circuitous  route,  as  the  Karasu  River,  though  ordinarily 
narrow,  was  now  swollen  by  floods  and  could  be  forded  only  at 
a  particular  point.  Leaving  the  miniature  lake  and  its  associa- 
tions with  the  name  of  Shirin,  our  cavalcade  proceeded  on  its 
way,  and  we  soon  were  approaching  a  modern  three-story  build- 
ing, near  the  river,  which  looked  in  the  distance  like  a  European 
apartment  house  suddenly  transported  to  Persia,  where  three- 
story  houses  are  a  rarity.  I  found  it  was  a  ducal  palace  belong- 
ing to  the  family  of  one  of  the  former  governors  of  Kermanshah, 
Imam  Guli  Mirza,  known  as  Imad  ad-Daulah,  and  hence  the 
building  was  called  the  Imadiah.  It  is  now  going  to  rack  and 
ruin,  because  the  heirs  of  the  original  owner  have  failed  to  keep 
up  this  villa  and  its  grounds,  in  order  to  avoid  the  expense  it 
would  entail  to  entertain  in  it  with  lavish  hospitality  each  new 
governor  that  assumes  the  administration  of  Kermanshah. 

Hardly  had  we  crossed  the  Karasu  and  ridden  a  mile  farther 
toward  the  city  than  we  were  completely  enveloped  in  a  snow 

1  See  the  plan  of  Tak-i  Bostan  in  Khosru '   was  pointed  out  to  me  near 
Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Bisitun,  but  this  was  too  far  from  Ker- 
Ancienne,  1.  pi.  1.  manshahto  answer  to  Yakut's  descrip- 

2  Information  from  Mr.   H.  L.  Ka-  tion.     I  am  not  unmindful  that  there- 
bino.  are  ruins  at  Kasr-i  Shirin,  Sar-i  Pulr 

8  See  likewise  Wilson,  Handbook  and  Takht-i  Girrah,  cf.  de  Morgan, 
of  Asia  Minor,  p.  327.  A  'Takht-i  Mission  Scientifique,  4.  335-357. 


230  TAK-I  BOSTAN  AND   KERMANSHAH 

squall  which  was  severe  enough  to  blot  out  the  recollection 
that  we  had  been  lunching  only  a  short  time  before  in  a  garden 
of  "springtime,  and  to  leave  only  a  memory  of  the  snowstorms 
produced  by  the  black  art  of  the  sorcerers  in  the  Shah  Namah. 
But  it  soon  passed  over,  and  in  another  half  hour  the  tin-cov- 
ered minarets  of  the  mosques  of  Kermanshah  and  the  lofty 
towers  of  the  Governor's  Palace  shone  out  in  the  afternoon 
sun. 

Kermanshah,  or  Kermanshahan,  as  it  was  more  generally  called 
in  former  times,  is  a  place  of  considerable  antiquity  as  well  as  the 
modern  capital  of  the  district  of  the  same  name.1  Tradition 
ascribes  the  founding  or  the  re-establishing  of  the  town  to  the 
Sasanian  king  Bahrain  IV  (A.D.  388-399),  who  had  been  ruler 
of  Kerinan  (^Karmdn-shdJi)  before  he  came  to  the  throne,  and  for 
this  reason  gave  that  name  to  Kermanshah,  although  Yakut 
assigns  the  founding  of  the  city  to  a  date  a  century  later, 
ascribing  it  to  Kobad  I,  son  of  Piruz  (A.D.  488-531).  2  It  is 
probable  that  the  city  is  much  older  than  either  of  these  dates 
and  that  it  may  occupy  the  site  of  the  ancient  Kambadene, 
mentioned  in  the  itinerary  of  Isidor  of  Charax.3  Little  is 
known  in  detail  regarding  the  history  of  the  city  for  a  long 
time  after  the  Sasanian  period.  Although  mentioned  by  the 
Arab  geographers  Al-Hamadhani,  Ibn  Rostah,  and  Yakut, 
already  referred  to,  no  allusion  is  made  to  it  by  Pietro  della 
Valle,  who  must  have  passed  near  it  on  his  journey  through 
this  plain  three  hundred  years  ago  (1617).  4  There  are  native 
records,  however,  including  poetical  accounts  in  Kurdish,  which 
give  the  history  of  some  of  its  wars  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  since  the  nineteenth  century  the  town  has  become  better 


1  The   Arab  pronunciation   of   the  8  Gk.  Kayu/foS^v^,  see  Isidorus  Chara- 

name    of    the    town    varies    between  cenus,   Mansiones   Parthicae,   6,    ed. 

Karmasin  and  Kirmlsln.  Miiller,  Paris,  1855,  1882  ;  and  cf.  de 

a  Yakut,  p.  438.     For  the  tradition  Morgan,  Mission  Scientifique,  2.  100. 
about  Bahram  IV,  see  Justi,  Grandr.  4  For  the  itinerary  of  Pietro  della 

iran.  Philol.  2.  626-526,  and  for  the  Valle's    journey    in  this    region,  see 

reign  of  Kobad  (Kavadh),  2.  631.  the  edition  of  Pinkerton,  0.  16  seq. 


THE   CITY  OF  KERMANSHAH  231 

known  to  the  West  through  trade  and  travel,  although  as 
regards  familiarity  its  name  can  bear  no  comparison  with  Tehe- 
ran and  Isfahan.  Many  persons,  in  fact,  know  of  Kerman- 
shah  only  through  the  rugs  for  which  the  city  and  its  vicinity 
once  were  famous,  even  if  the  rug  manufacture  is  almost  a  lost 
industry  now  in  Kermanshah  itself  and  the  carpets  which  are 
exported  through  its  customs  to-day  come  mostly  from  other 
parts  of  Persia  and  are  merely  shipped  by  way  of  this  dis- 
tributing-centre.1 

Commercially  the  city  of  Kermanshah  is  favorably  situated, 
as  it  lies  on  the  main  caravan  route  between  Persia  and  Meso- 
potamia, being  nearly  equidistant  from  Teheran  and  Baghdad, 
two  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  the  latter  and  two  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  the  former.  The  town  enjoys  the  advan- 
tages of  a  busy  trade,  especially  on  commission,  and  its  popu- 
lation is  now  reported  at  fully  sixty  thousand,  the  inhabitants 
being  largely  of  Kurdish  blood,  besides  Persians,  Turks, 
some  Jews,  and  a  few  Christians.2  The  municipal  adminis- 
tration is  in  the  hands  of  three  magistrates  (kadkhuda),  each 
of  whom  presides  over  one  of  the  three  wards  into  which  the 
city  is  divided,  and  is  accountable,  through  a  number  of  higher 
officials,  to  the  Governor  of  Kermanshah  appointed  by  the 
Shah. 

In  area  the  extent  of  the  town  is  considerable,  as  it  measures 
about  four  miles  in  circumference,  and  its  circuit  was  formerly 
enclosed  by  walls,  although  these  have  now  disappeared,  except 
that  one  or  two  of  the  towers  have  been  built  into  the  walls  of 
dwellings,  and  traces  of  the  moat  are  visible  where  it  has  not  been 
completely  filled  up.  The  five  city  gates  have  been  preserved 
in  name  at  least,  as  their  names  are  still  employed  to  designate 
the  several  quarters  where  the  main  roads  enter  the  town. 

1  Just    as    '  Hamburg '    grapes    and  kindness  of  Mr.  H.  L.  Rabino,  Agent 

'  Astrakhan'  furs  are  so  named  from  of  the  Imperial  Bank  at  Kermanshah, 

the  place  of  shipment.  and  to  the  British  Consular  Reports, 

2  For  valuable  information  regard-  Persia,  no.  590,  miscell.  ser. ;  no.  3189, 

ing  Kermanshah  I  am  indebted  to  the  annual  ser.,  London,  1903,  1904. 


232    •  TAK-I  BOS  TAN  AND   KERMANSHAH 

Architecturally  the  city  has  little  of  interest  to  attract  the 
traveller,  and  most  of  its  buildings  are  of  comparatively  recent 
date.  There  are  a  number  of  public  squares  and  buildings, 
but  they  are  of  minor  importance.  Among  them  may  be  men- 
tioned the  Governor's  Palace,  whose  high  towers  overlook  the 
Top  Meiddn,  or  4  Artillery  Square.'  In  the  midst  of  this  square 
is  a  reservoir,  and  around  the  plaza  are  shops  adjoining  the 
bazaars.  The  arsenal  itself  is  behind  the  palace,  and  to  the 
south  is  another  square  called  Meiddn-i  Sarldz  Khdnah,  or 
'Barrack  Square,'  because  the  soldiers'  quarters  are  built 
around  it  and  it  serves  as  a  parade-ground.  There  are  several 
mosques  in  different  parts  of  the  city,  but  none  of  them  are 
ancient  or  especially  renowned.  A  bank,  custom-house,  post 
and  telegraph  office,  and  about  thirty  baths  make  up  the  rest 
of  the  quota  of  public  buildings ;  there  are  some  private  houses 
of  the  finer  sort  and  a  number  of  handsome  gardens  and  villas 
in  the  environs,  the  property  of  wealthy  owners. 

The  city  is  well  supplied  with  caravansarais,  and  they  are 
usually  crowded  with  merchants  or  with  pilgrims  on  their  way 
to  and  from  Kerbela.  The  principal  hostelry  was  full  on  the 
afternoon  when  I  arrived,  so  that  I  had  to  seek  elsewhere  for 
lodgings.  I  met  with  the  same  experience  at  the  next,  and 
again  at  the  next,  riding  for  more  than  an  hour  through 
crowded  streets  and  bazaars,  jostling  against  camels  and  pack- 
mules,  whose  load  nearly  tore  one  of  my  riding-leggings  to 
pieces,  stopping  only  long  enough  to  repair  damages  and 
sample  a  baker's  supply  of  sugar  cakes,  which  were  really 
excellent,  then  proceeding  once  more.  At  last  I  found  shel- 
ter in  an  unpretentious  manzil,  the  owner  of  which  was  an 
obliging  person,  and  he  succeeded  in  making  me  fairly  com- 
fortable. My  enforced  peregrination  had  at  least  this  in  its 
favor,  that  it  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  gain  some  idea  of  the 
commercial  activity  of  Kermanshah.  The  bazaars  seemed  to  be 
carrying  on  a  prosperous  trade  in  the  products  of  the  district, 
grain,  wheat,  barley,  fruit,  gum,  and  also  opium,  besides  doing 


POINTS   OF  INTEREST  IN  KERMANSHAH  233 

a  fair  business  in  goods  which  are  transported  through  the  city, 
a  traffic  which  includes  also  numerous  imports  from  abroad,  so 
that  I  was  able  to  stock  up  again  with  several  articles  of  foreign 
manufacture  which  I  found  I  needed  on  the  journey. 

I  had  expected  to  remain  an  extra  day  at  Kermanshah,  espe- 
cially as  I  had  met  with  kind  hospitality  at  the  Imperial  Bank, 
but  I  changed  my  plans  when  I  learned  that  the  two  other 
scholars  whom  I  thought  I  might  meet  and  have  join  in  the 
work  upon  the  Behistan  rock  had  been  prevented  from  com- 
ing. I  felt,  therefore,  that  I  must  return  to  the  rock  at  once 
and  accomplish  as  much  more  as  I  could  in  the  limited  time  at 
my  disposal  before  leaving  for  the  south  of  Persia.  Accord- 
ingly I  started  shortly  after  sunrise  the  next  morning  and 
galloped  my  horse,  Rakhsh,  most  of  the  twenty-one  miles  back 
again  to  Bisitun.  After  taking  a  hasty  meal  I  proceeded 
immediately  to  the  height,  and  within  an  hour  after  noon  I  had 
again  ascended  the  cliff  and  was  busy  at  the  work,  which  I 
continued  that  day  and  the  next  with  all  the  intensity  of 
application  of  which  I  was  capable,  and  with  the  results  that  I 
have  already  described. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE     GREAT     RUINED     TEMPLE    OF    THE    PERSIAN    DIANA 

AT   KANGAVAR 

4 1  shall  offer  unto  the  holy  Ardvi  Sura  Anahita,  goddess  of  the  heavenly 
streams,  pure  and  undefiled,  a  goodly  sacrifice  accompanied  by  an  oblation. ' 

—  AVESTA,  Yasht  5.  9. 

KANGAVAR  is  a  small  town  of  great  antiquity,  lying  directly 
on  the  route  between  Bisitun  and  Hamadan,  and  it  is  the  site  of 
some  important  ruins  which  I  shall  describe,  as  they  are  those 
of  a  temple  of  the  Ancient  Persian  Diana.  On  my  journey 
outward  to  Bisitun  I  knew  that  there  were  some  ancient 
remains  to  be  seen  at  the  place,  but  in  my  anxiety  to  reach 
the  inscription  of  Darius  I  had  no  time  to  visit  them,  and  I 
waited  till  I  should  be  able  to  inspect  them  on  my  return 
journey  to  Hamadan.  Accordingly,  I  mounted  my  horse  and 
started  with  Safar,  Shahbas,  and  the  rest  of  my  caravan  on 
the  road  to  Hamadan  by  way  of  Kangavar,  the  same  route 
I  had  traversed  eight  days  before. 

As  I  rode  along,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  a  large  land- 
tortoise,  the  first  I  had  seen  in  Persia;  it  had  been  tempted 
out  of  its  winter  quarters  by  the  warm  spring  sun  and  was 
slowly  crawling  along  by  the  side  of  the  trail.  The  Persians 
call  the  tortoise  'stony-back'  (sangl-pmht),  but  the  ancient 
Zoroastrians  named  it  zairimyanura  or  nicknamed  it  zairi- 
mydka  (a  word  of  uncertain  meaning)  and  looked  upon  the 
tortoise  as  one  of  Ahriman's  creatures  and  therefore  to  be 
destroyed.1  Happily  in  this  respect  the  harmless  creature  is 

1  Avesta,  Vd.  13.  6  ;  see  also  (kasy-      dure';  Bartholomae,  Air.  Wb.  p.  1682, 
apa)  Vd.  14.  5.     Darraesteter,  Le  ZA.       as  '  des  Glieder  (oder  Zehen)  in  einem 
2.    195,  n.    8,   gives  the    meaning  of      festen  Gehaus  stecken.1 
zairimyahura  as  'qui  de"vore  la  ver- 

234 


A  PERSIAN  SHEPHERD 
(Near  Sahnah) 


A  TYPICAL  CARAVANSARAI 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

Of 


ON   THE  ROAD    TO   SAHNAH  235 

no  longer  under  a  ban,  and  my  Mohammedan  attendants 
allowed  it  to  pass  unmolested.  Sunset  found  me  entering 
the  hamlet  of  Sahnah,  riding  through  lanes  lined  with  rows 
of  plum  and  apple  trees  in  full  blossom.  I  directed  my  cara- 
van to  proceed  to  the  same  manzil  at  which  we  had  stayed  on 
the  outward  journey,  and  hardly  an  hour  had  passed  before  I 
was  asleep  in  the  bdld-khdnah,  or  upper  room  above  the  entrance. 
If  I  had  known  at  the  time  that  a  tomb,  fabled  to  be  that  of 
the  legendary  king  of  Iran,  Kei  Kaus,  is  located  in  a  gorge  back 
of  Sahnah,  I  should  have  engaged  some  of  the  natives  to  take 
me,  with  torches,  to  visit  the  chamber  and  draw  me  up  to 
inspect  it,  or  should  have  waited  an  extra  day  to  examine  it.1 
But  Sahnah  meant  for  me,  on  my  two  visits, only  a  halting-place, 
as  it  does  for  the  Kerbela  pilgrims  whose  passing  to  and  fro  is 
a  source  of  revenue  to  its  thousand  or  more  inhabitants,  so  I 
arranged  to  continue  my  march  early  next  morning.2 

The  hands  of  my  watch  indicated  precisely  6.00  A.M.  when 
I  gave  the  signal  to  start,  and  our  slow-moving  procession  filed 
out  beneath  the  mud  portal  of  the  caravansarai  and  headed 
eastward  again  toward  Hamadan. 

In  an  hour  and  a  half  we  reached  a  pretty  village  which  I 
remembered  noticing  particularly,  on  the  outward  journey, 
because  of  its  green  groves  and  orchards,  its  rich  grass,  and 
abundant  water.  The  frogs  in  the  pools  were  croaking  lustily, 
no  longer  in  fear  of  the  old  Zoroastrian  law  (long  since  passed 
into  oblivion)  which  accounted  them  noxious  animals  and 
regarded  it  as  a  meritorious  act  to  kill  thousands  of  this  brood 
of  Ahriman.3  The  merry  chorus  of  their  voices  reminded  me 
of  the  Frog  Hymn  in  the  Rig  Veda,4  as  each  tried  to  out- 
croak  the  other,  but  the  inharmonious  music  was  soon  lost 

1  Sahnah    is     mentioned    by    Ibn      see   Flandin    and   Coste,    Voyage   en 
Haukal,  p.    167,   Yakut,  p.  305,  and      Perse,  Moderne,  pi.  75  b,  and  Texte, 
Pietro   della   Valle,    Viaggi,   1.   440 ;      p.  11. 

Travels,  ed.  Pinkerton,  9. 17  ;  but  none          3  Vd.  14.  5  ;  18.  65,  73. 

of  them  allude  to  the  tomb  of  Kaus.  4  See  Rig  Veda,  7.  103.  1-10. 

2  For  a  sketch  of  the '  Tomb  of  Kaus,1 


236  THE    RUINED    TEMPLE    AT    KANGAVAR 

in  the  distance,  and  before  long  we  were  ascending  a  ridge  of 
rolling  hills  and  after  that  descending  into  a  plain  flooded  with 
sunlight. 

I  halted  for  a  few  minutes  here  to  speak  to  a  Persian  shep- 
herd who  was  grazing  his  flocks  along  the  rich  plain.  His 
short-sleeved  sheepskin  coat,  shoes  of  rough  hide,  heavily 
rolled  turban,  and  shepherd's  staff  gave  me  an  impression  of 
what  the  pastoral  life  must  have  been  in  early  Media.  It  was, 
perhaps,  to  such  a  shepherd,  in  these  very  mountains,  that  King 
Astyages  committed  the  infant  Cyrus  with  orders  that  the 
child  should  be  exposed  to  die,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  ancient 
legend,  and  possibly  this  very  shepherd's  wife  resembled  the 
fictitious  Spaka  who  reared  the  foundling  to  become  a  shep- 
herd lad  and  king.1 

We  rode  forward  through  a  fertile  plain  and  reached  Kanga- 
var  before  noon.  The  town  is  about  thirty-two  miles  distant 
from  Bisitun,  or  four  farsakhs  from  Sahnah,  and  is  now  a  settle- 
ment of  about  eighteen  hundred  houses,2  the  lodging  of  some 
eight  thousand  inhabitants.  The  main  street,  which  winds 
up  and  down  the  elevation  on  which  the  town  lies,  is  lined  with 
shops  and  booths  of  merchants  trading  especially  in  wheat, 
barley,  cotton,  and  pears,  and  is  bordered  on  either  side  with 
halting-places  to  offer  a  manzil  to  the  heavily  laden  trains  of 
camels  and  asses  on  their  way  to  Kermanshah  and  Baghdad. 

Kangavar  is  a  place  of  genuine  antiquity  ;  it  was  known, 
under  the  name  of  Konkobar,  to  the  Greek  geographer  Isidor 
of  Charax  in  the  first  century  of  our  era ; 3  and  my  attention 

1  Herodotus,  History,  1.  107-114.  D'Anville,    Compendium    of  Ancient 

2  Information  from  Mr.  H.  L.  Rabino.  Geography,   pt.    2,   p.    460,  London, 
The  Italian  traveller  Pietro  della  Valle,  1791.    Since  that  time  much  has  been 
who  stayed  in  the  town  Jan.  20,  1617,  written  about  the  site  ;  see  Rawlinson, 
described  Kangavar  as  a  large  place  JUGS.  9.  112;  Buckingham,  Travels 
('grossa  terra  chiamata  Chienghieuer,'  in  Assyria,  Media,   and  Persia,   pp. 
Viaggi,  1.  440  ;  Travels,  ed.  Pinkerton,  150-154,  London,  1829;  Masson,  Illus- 
9.  17).  trations  of  Isidorus    of    Charax,   in 

8  The  first  scholar  to  identify  Kanga-  JRAS.  12  (1850),  pp.  97-124;  Ker 
var  with  'Concobar,'  I  believe,  was  Porter,  Travels,  2.  139-144;  Texier, 


THE    TOWN    OF    K AN G AVAR  237 

was  at  once  attracted  by  certain  peculiarities  of  its  site.  The 
low  hills  and  mounds  which  surround  it,  some  of  them  capped 
with  buildings  erected  on  the  foundations  of  older  structures, 
immediately  suggested  to  me  an  etymology  for  Kangavar.  The 
name  Kangavar,  or  Kankivar,  Gk.  Kory/coftdp,  may  be  derived 
from  a  hypothetical  Avestan  form  *Kahha-vara,  c  enclosure  of 
Kanha,'  the  first  element  of  the  compound  being  probably 
a  proper  name,  Kahha,  as  in  Avestan  Kahha-daeza  and 
Firdausi's  Kang-diz,  and  the  second  element,  vara,  '  enclosure,' 
being  cognate  with  the  designation  of  the  Vara  of  Jamshid.1 
The  mounds  and  elevations  which  surround  the  acclivity  on 
which  Kangavar  is  built,  make  the  attribute  a  fitting  one  and 
the  suggested  etymology  probable. 

Among  the  buildings  which  attract  notice  at  Kangavar  are 
one  or  two  mosques  and  a  brick  citadel,  but  they  are  of  minor 
importance  when  compared  with  the  ruins  of  what  must  once 
have  been  a  magnificent  edifice  in  the  heart  of  the  town.  Here, 
on  the  principal  thoroughfare  and  near  a  large  caravansarai,  are 
the  remains  of  a  wall  of  white  marble  blocks  of  mammoth  size, 
hewn  with  precision,  and  crowned  with  broken  columns  and 
pilasters  which  show  the  outline  of  a  grand  enclosure  of  build- 
ings. The  style  of  the  architecture  is  noticeably  Greek, 
and  I  made  a  series  of  memoranda  concerning  the  ruins, 
although  I  did  not  know  at  the  time  that  they  had  been  sub- 
jected to  a  detailed  examination  by  others.  I  shall  give  my 
notes  as  I  took  them  down,  and  supplement  or  correct  them 
from  other  sources  when  occasion  demands. 

So  far  as  my  observations  allowed  me  to  judge,  the  ruins 
seemed  to  represent  the  remains  of  two  large  buildings,  the 
one  to  the  northwest,  lying  directly  on  the  main  street,  and 

Description  deVArmenie,  la  Perse,  etc.,  207  ;  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  51,  n.  1 ;  Mar- 

1.  160  seq.,  pis.   62-64;  Flandin  and  quart,  Erdnsahr,   p.  24;    and  K.  A. 

Coste,  Voyage   en    Perse,    Ancienne,  Floyer,    Unexplored  Baluchistan,  pp. 

1.    pis.    20-23,   Moderne,    pis.    72-74,  424-425,  London,  1882. 
Texte,  pp.    11-14;    Dieulafoy,    i: Art          l  See  p.  126,  above.     Kahha    was 

Antique  de  la  Perse,  pt.  5,  pp.  7-8,  11,  located  somewhere  in  eastern  Iran. 


238  THE    RUINED    TEMPLE    AT   RANG  AVAR 

the  other  at  some  distance  to  the  southeast,  situated  on  the 
edge  of  a  declivity.  I  find  that  authorities  such  as  Ker  Porter, 
Texier,  Flandin  and  Coste,  and  Dieulafoy,  to  whose  judg- 
ment I  should  defer  in  such  a  matter,  see  in  the  granite 
blocks  which  compose  the  structure  the  remains  of  a  single 
great  platform  with  a  peristyle,  in  the  midst  of  which  stood 
the  chief  edifice.1  Ker  Porter,  for  example,  who  visited  the 
ruins  in  1818,  regarded  the  whole  enclosure  as  a  temple  pre- 
cinct whose  walls  formed  a  huge  rectangular  terrace,  three  hun- 
dred yards  square  and  crowned  with  a  colonnade.2  Flandin's 
drawings  and  Texier's  sketches,  which  apparently  served  as 
the  chief  source  of  Dieulafoy's  information,  give  a  plan  of  the 
possible  arrangement  of  the  platform  and  the  temple  precinct. 
To  speak  with  positive  certainty  as  to  details,  however,  would 
only  be  possible  after  a  careful  re-examination  of  the  ground, 
and  it  would  also  be  necessary  to  make  clearings  and  excava- 
tions, since  a  mass  of  modern  buildings  and  dilapidated  struc- 
tures has  been  built  over  the  ruins,  or  crowded  in  among 
them,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  some  of  the  ancient 
material  still  standing. 

The  supposition  that  the  original  structure  was  an  extensive 
platform,  on  which  various  superstructures  were  raised,  is  borne 
out  by  an  allusion  to  Kangavar  in  Yakut,  about  A.D.  1220. 
This  Arab  writer  says  that  the  place  was  called  also  Kasr-i 
Shirln,  'Castle  of  Shirin,'  after  Khosru's  favorite,3  but  more 
often  Kasr  al-Lasus,  'the  Robber  Castle,'  because  the  Arab 
army  which  invaded  Persia  after  the  battle  of  Nahavand  lost 
some  pack-animals  here,  which  were  stolen  by  robbers;  it  is 

1  Compare    Ker    Porter,     Travels  Flandin  and  Coste,  Texte,  p.  13,  who 

(1822),  1.  141 ;  Texier,  Description  de  give  217.93  m.  by  229  m. ;  Texier,  op. 

VArmenie,  la  Perse,  etc.  (1842),  1. 160-  cit.  1.  161,  gives  202  m.  by  172  m. 

162,  and  pis.  62-68 ;  Flandin  and  Coste,  2  The  Arab  geographer  Al-Hama- 

Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  1.  pi.  21  dhani  (ed.  De  Goeje,  5.  267)  says  that 

(reproduced    below),     Texte,    p.    13,  *  in  all  the  world  there  are  no  columns 

Moderne,  pis.  72-73 ;  Dieulafoy,  V  Art  more  wonderful  than  those  at  Kasr  al- 

Antique,  pt.  5,  pp.  8,  207.     For  meas-  Lasus  (i.e.  Kangavar).' 

urements    of    the    platform,  compare  8  See  p.  225,  n.  4,  pp.  226-228,  above. 


APPEARANCE    OF    THE    RUINS  239 

more  likely,  however,  as  Mustau.fi  says,  that  the  name  was  given 
it  because  the  place  was  later  infested  by  bandits,  a  reputation 
which  it  long  retained.1  Yakut  describes  the  place  as  follows  : 

'  The  Kobber  Castle  is  a  very  remarkable  monument,  and  there  is 
a  platform  some  twenty  cubits  above  the  ground  and  on  it  there  are 
vast  portals,  palaces,  and  pavilions,  remarkable  for  their  solidity  and 
their  beauty.' 2 

The  part  of  the  foundation  which  is  best  preserved  stands 
at  the  northwest  corner.  A  solid  retaining-wall  can  there  be 
seen,  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  high,  running  north  and  south  for 
more  than  seventy  feet  and  forming  what  I  took  to  be  the 
base  of  a  single  building.  The  northern  wall,  which  extends 
at  right  angles  eastward  from  this  point,  is  equally  massive, 
being  composed  of  granite  blocks,  some  of  them  more  than 
seven  feet  long  and  four  feet  high,3  and  broad  in  proportion, 
although  it  was  not  easy  to  measure  the  stones,  as  the  wall  is 
partly  buried  beneath  earth  and  debris.  The  rampart  is  capped 
with  a  heavy  coping  which  forms  a  stylobate  to  sustain  what 
once  must  have  been  an  imposing  colonnade.4  Three  of  these 
columns,  each  nearly  six  feet  in  diameter,  were  still  standing 
on  the  cornice  of  the  northwestern  wall  when  I  saw  it,  having 
been  preserved  by  being  built  into  the  side  wall  of  a  modern 
building,  as  shown  also  in  Flandin's  picture  (which  I  have  repro- 
duced), while  a  fourth  truncated  shaft  at  the  extreme  upper 
angle  of  the  stylobate,  where  the  wall  turns  eastward,  was 
standing  and  could  be  easily  measured  because  it  was  quite 
detached.5  Several  of  the  pillars  have  fallen  since  the  time 

1  Yakut,  p.  451 ;  cf.  also  pp.  450,  2  Yakut,  p.  451. 

495;  for  the  robbers  cf.  Mustaufi,  cited  3  210  cin.  by  130  cm. 

by  Barbier  de  Meynard,  Diet.  geog.  p.  4  For  a  sketch  of  a  section  of  this 

451,  n.  1,  and  Le  Strange,  JRAS.  1902,  cornice,  see  de  Morgan,  Mission  Scien- 

p.  511  ;   furthermore,  Ibn  Haukal,  p.  tifique,  2.  139. 

166  (Kasr-i  Duzdan  '  Robber  Castle '),  6  The  height  of  this  drum  was  over 

and  Masson,  JRAS.  12  (1850), p.  116,  six  feet,  and  its  diameter  nearly  six 

which  bears  out  the  idea  that  the  place  feet  also,  or,  more  exactly,  170  cm. 

was  infested  by  freebooters.  by  160  cm. 


240  THE    RUINED    TEMPLE   AT    K  AN  G  AVAR 

of  Ker  Porter  (1818),  who  speaks  of  pedestals  of  eight  col- 
umns as  still  surmounted  by  the  chief  part  of  their  shafts  in 
good  preservation,  thus  evidently  not  including  the  base  of 
the  rectangular  shaft  adjoining  the  column  at  the  upper  end, 
which  is  shown  in  the  drawings  and  plans  of  the  Frenchmen 
Texier  (1839-1840)  and  Flandin  and  Coste  (1839-1841),  and 
of  the  Englishman  Masson  (1845).1 

Following  my  guide  eastward  along  the  elevation  and  then 
turning  southward  among  the  hovels  and  rubbish,  I  found  a 
large  collection  of  massive  stones  near  the  southeast  corner. 
A  mass  of  huge  blocks  was  tossed  about  in  confusion,  as  if  a 
building  had  collapsed,  but  I  was  able  to  trace  the  general  out- 
line of  a  wall  running  for  about  a  hundred  feet  north  and 
south,  as  shown  in  my  photograph.  The  stones  were  of  the 
same  large  size  as  at  the  northwest  corner,  and  one  granite 
drum,  which  had  fallen  down  the  slope,  measured  nearly  five 
feet  by  eight.2  The  base  of  another  column  was  still  to  be 
seen  in  its  place  in  the  line  of  the  wall,  and  near  it  a  third 
pedestal  rising  two  feet  above  the  ground.3  Within  the  enclos- 
ure where  the  main  edifice  must  have  stood  was  a  part  of  a 
column  (shown  in  the  middle  of  my  photograph),  which  had 
apparently  been  set  partly  on  a  foundation  of  stone  and  mortar, 
so  that  it  looked  like  an  altar  for  libations,  as  it  was  slightly 
hollowed  out,  but  it  may  have  been  simply  an  overturned  capi- 
tal. I  was  inclined  to  the  former  view  because  I  believed, 
when  examining  the  ruins,  that  they  were  the  remains  of  a 
temple  of  Anahita,  the  great  Persian  goddess  of  the  heavenly 
streams,  whom  the  Greeks  identified  with  Artemis,  or  Diana, 

Compare  Ker  Porter,   Travels,  2.  era  building  between  them  still  intact). 

141    ('pedestals  of  eight');   Flandin  Dieulafoy's  plans  (I?  Art  Antique  de  la 

and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  Perse,  5.  8-9)  are  after  Flandin. 

1.  pis.  21,  22,  Moderne,  pis.  72,  73  (8  +  1  *  More  exactly,  230  cm.  by  144  cm. 

columns,  including  the  pilaster)  ;  Tex-  «  For    a    sketch    of    the    mass    of 

ier,  Description  de  VArmenie,  la  Perse,  columns    as    they  lay  about    half    a 

etc.  1.  pis.  64,  65,  [66]  (8+1  columns)  ;  century  ago,  see  Flandin  and  Coste, 

Masson,  JJRAS.  12.pl.  p.117  (8  +  lpil-  Voyage  en  Perse,  Moderne,  pi.  74  b, 

lars,  with  most  of  the  wall  of  the  mod-  and  Texier,  Description,  1.  pi.  68. 


A    SHRINE    OF    ANAHITA  241 

and  whose  worship  was  widespread  throughout  Iran  in  the 
time  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  in  the  fourth  century  before 
Christ. 

On  gaining  access  to  my  books  I  was  able,  by  positive  evi- 
dence from  the  classics,  to  substantiate  the  view  that  I  held 
regarding  the  identity  of  the  temple,  but  I  find  that  I  have  been 
partly  anticipated  by  others.1  The  Greek  geographer  Isidor 
of  Charax,  who  entered  Media  by  this  route  in  the  first  cen- 
tury A.D.  and  kept  detailed  notes  of  his  itinerary,  which  he 
published  under  the  name  of  'Parthian  Stations,'  mentions 
Kangavar  as  Konkobar,  and  alludes  to  its  temple,  sacred  to 
Artemis.  His  laconic  note  reads  :  — 

'  Three  schoeni  (eight  or  nine  hiiles)  from  the  frontier  of  Upper 
Media  is  the  city  of  Konkobar,  where  there  is  a  temple  of  Artemis. 
Three  sclioeni  beyond  this  is  Bazigraban,  which  is  the  place  of  receipt 
of  customs.  Four  sclioeni  thence  to  Adrapanan,  a  palace  in  the  ter- 
ritory of  Batana  (i.e.  Ecbatana),2  destroyed  by  Tigranes  the  Arme- 
nian. Twelve  schoeni  thence  is  Batana  (Ecbatana)  the  capital  of 
Media,  the  treasury,  and  the  temple  where  they  sacrifice  constantly 
to  Anai'tis.  Then  after  that  there  are  three  villages,  in  each  of  which 
is  a  station/ 3 


1  See  the  names  referred  to  above,  te/>6»,  <rxoivoi  y'.     Elra  Bafrypdpav,  8 
p.  236,  n.  3.  t<rri    Tt\6viov,    exoivoi    y'.      Efra    efs 

2  Lit.    'of   those    in    Batana'     (i.e.  'Adpatrdvav   rd   pa<rl\eia    ruv  £v  Eard- 
Ecbatana).  vots,     &    Ttypdvijs    6   'Apptvios    icadetXe, 

3  Isidor  of  Charax,  Mansiones  Par-  <rxoivot   5'.      Erro    BdVaw,    p.-ijTpbrro\t<i 
thicae,  6.     For  convenience  I  add  the  Madias   Kal   0i]<ravpo<pv\dK(,ot>   teal   iepbv, 
Greek  text  of  Isidor's  entire  itinerary  8irep  'Avatrtdos  del  66ov<rn>  -  <rxoit>oi  if?. 
from  Cambadene  (Kermanshah  ?)  and  Elra   e%rjs  rpeTs  KW/XCU,  tv  als  ffra.dp.6s. 
Behistan  (misvvritten  as  Baptana  for  7.  'Evrevdev  ['PcryiafTj]  M^S^a,  ffxoTvot 
Bagistana  —  Greek    7TT  for   riCT)    to  [«"?']•    "Ev  y  KU/J.O.I  i',  7r6Xeis  5^  e'.    'Airb 
Konkobar  and   Ecbatana,    thence    to  ffxolvwv  f '  'Pdya  Kal  Xdpa£,  $>v  p*yiffTi) 
Rhaga  (mod.    Rei)    and  the   Caspian  T&V  xard  T^V  M?;5^aj'  17  'Pdya.    Ets  5^ 
Gates.  The  passage  reads  :  5.  'Evrev6ev  TT)V    x^PaKa   irpwros    f3a<ri\et>s    Qpadrys 
K.afj.fiad'rjvr),  TJTLS  Kar^et  ffxolvovs  Xa',  iv  robs  MdpSovs  <j}Ki<rev  •  earn?  virb  rb  6/)0$, 
rj  K&fMi  e',  tv  ah  crra^s,  ?r6Xts  5^  Ed-  8    KaXctrat     Rao-Trios,    d<p'     o5     Kdo-mai, 
irrava  eir'  6povs  Kei^vrj  •  fvda  2e/j.Lpd/j.i-  irtXai.       (See      Isidorus     Characenus, 
5o$  aya\p.a  Kal  <TT^\rj.     6.  'EvrevBev  ij  Mansiones    Parthicae,    in    Geographi 

17  di/w,  (?xoTvoi  X?j'  •    Kal  apx?rat.  Graeci  Minores,  ed.  C.  Miiller,  Paris, 

1855,1882.) 


242  THE    RUINED     TEMPLE    AT    KANGAVAR 

The  ruined  temple,  therefore,  was  one  dedicated  to  Ardvi 
Sura  Anahita,  as  goddess  of  the  streams.  The  situation  at 
Kangavar  must  have  been  a  suitable  one  for  a  sanctuary 
devoted  to  her  worship,  for  within  the  town  itself  is  a  cas- 
cade which  pours  its  waters  down  into  the  plain  to  be  lost 
ultimately  in  the  Garnasiab,  and  may  therefore  be  described 
in  the  words  of  the  Avesta  itself  as  4  a  holy  stream  enriching 
life,  enriching  the  herds,  enriching  property,  enriching  wealth, 
enriching  the  whole  country.' l 

My  idea  that  the  temple  was  erected  in  Achaemenian  times 
and  may  have  been  founded  by  Artaxerxes  II,  is  not  in  agree- 
ment with  Dieulafoy,  I  find,  who  argues  that  the  remains  show 
a  confused  Greek  style,  that  the  columns  are  bastard  Doric,2 
that  the  architecture  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  Per- 
sepolitan,  which  shows  Egyptian  characteristics,  and  that  we 
must  conclude  to  assign  the  temple  to  the  Parthian  period, 
ascribing  it  to  some  one  of  the  Arsacid  kings,  all  of  whom 
were  strongly  under  Hellenic  influence.3  If  this  assumption 
be  correct,  I  should  regard  it  as  an  addition  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  Zoroastrian  religion  during  the  Parthian  period,  regard- 
ing which  our  information  is  in  many  respects  scanty.  In  any 
event  Kangavar  offers  a  good  field  for  archaeological  research, 
and  I  believe  that  scientific  excavations  in  the  vicinity,  as  at 
Tak-i  Bostan  and  throughout  the  valley,  would  yield  important 
results. 

Continuing  the  journey  toward  Hamadan,  I  stayed  over 
night,  for  the  second  time,  at  the  small  walled  village  of  Asad- 
abad,  or  Saidabad,  four  and  a  half  farsakhs  (about  twenty 
miles)  distant  from  Kangavar.4  This  settlement  lies  at  the 

1  Yt.  5.  1.  «  Dieulafoy,   UArl  Antique  de  la 

2  For  specimens  of  the  bases  and      Perse,  pt.  5,  pp.  7,  8,  207. 

capitals  of  the  columns,  see  Ker  Porter,  4  The  distance  is  given  by  Masson, 

Travels,  1.  pi.  43  c  ;  and  compare  also  JRAS.  12.  99  (after  Webb)  as  twenty- 

the  drawings  of  Flandin  and  Coste,  two  miles  ;  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  57,  says 

Voyage  en  Perse,  Texte,  p.  13,  and  the  (approximately)  twenty-three  miles, 
allusions  to  the  Doric  order. 


THE  RUINED  TEMPLE  AT  KANGAVAB 

(Flandin's  drawing  of  the  northwest  wall.    The  modern  buildings  to  the  left  of  the 
picture  have  disappeared) 


RUINS  OF  THE  TEMPLE  AT  KANGAVAR 
(Part  of  the  southwestern  wall  with  a  modern  building  in  the  background) 


SITE    OF    AN    ANCIENT    CUSTOM    HOUSE  243 

base  of  the  great  mountain  ridge  whose  steep  and  rugged 
heights  make  a  formidable  barrier  to  surmount  before  reach- 
ing the  city  of  Hamadan.  Asadabad  is  the  regular  halting- 
place  for  all  caravans  that  go  by  this  ancient  route,  and  I  believe 
that  this  not  inconsiderable  village  represents,  in  location  at 
least,  the  Bazigraban,  or  Custom  House,  mentioned  by  Isidorus 
in  the  passage  already  quoted.  The  etymology  of  the  name 
Bazi-grabdn  (Gk.  ~Bafyypd/3av)  immediately  becomes  clear  when 
we  restore  the  word  to  its  probable  form  in  Ancient  Persian, 
*Bdji-graband,  '  tribute-taking,  toll-collecting,'  indicating  the 
place  where  the  customs  dues  were  levied,  somewhat  like  the 
Modern  Persian  bdj-gdh,  'toll  place.'1 

Asadabad,  being  situated  in  a  plain  at  the  base  of  the  spurs 
of  Mount  Alvand  and  watered  by  the  streams  that  descend  from 
the  great  ridge,  has  a  fertile  soil  and  a  temperate  climate,  and 
it  was  once  a  place  of  some  renown.  Yakut,  writing  seven 
hundred  years  ago,  says  that  it  was  formerly  the  residence  of 
the  son  of  the  Sasanian  king  Khosru  Parviz  (A.D.  590-628), 
although  the  monarch  himself  resided  for  the  most  part  at 
Kangavar.  The  Arab  geographer  narrates  an  amusing  legend, 
which  he  characterizes,  however,  as  poetic  fiction  and  a  'lie,' 
to  the  effect  that  '  Khosru's  Kitchen '  was  located  midway 
between  Asadabad  and  Kangavar;  and  whenever  the  king 
dined,  a  long  line  of  pages  'passed  the  dishes  from  hand  to 
hand '  over  the  entire  distance.  His  son  observed  the  same 
custom  when  living  at  Asadabad.  The  viands,  Yakut  says, 
must  have  been  cold  when  they  reached  the  king,  even  if  borne 
on  eagle's  wings,  but  he  adds  that  we  are,  perhaps,  to  under- 
stand that  '  Khosru's  Kitchen '  (maibakh)  was  merely  the 
place  which  served  as  headquarters  from  which  the  royal 
cuisine  was  stocked.2 

My  journey  over  the  desolate  pass  from  Asadabad  was  made 

1  Cf .  also  Spiegel,  Altpers.  Keilin-  2  See  Yakut,  pp.  34,  536,  whose 
schriften,  2d  ed.,  p.  233.  Cf.  likewise  description  and  comments  are  worth 
OP.  Pati~\grabana,  Bh.  3.  4.  consulting. 


244  THE    RUINED     TEMPLE    AT    K AN G AVAR 

on  the  following  day,  April  20,  through  fierce  storms  of  sleet 
and  snow  that  swept  pitilessly  from  the  north  during  most  of 
the  day ;  and  it  was  not  until  after  five  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon that  I  again  reached  Hamadan,  having  taken  twelve 
hours  to  accomplish  a  distance  of  less  than  thirty  miles. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

FROM  HAMADAN  TO   THE  RUINED   FIRE-TEMPLE  NEAR 

ISFAHAN 

4  Unto  Fire,  the  son  of  the  God  Ormazd  !  Unto  thee,  0  Fire,  thou  son  of 
Ormazd,  be  grace,  for  thy  worship,  praise,  propitiation,  and  glorification.' 

—  AVESTA,  Introduction,  2. 

AFTER  remaining  two  nights  at  Hamadan  upon  the  occasion 
of  my  second  visit,  I  started  late  on  the  morning  of  the  third 
day  to  continue  my  journey  southward  toward  Isfahan, 
especially  to  visit  the  ruined  fire-temple  near  that  city. 
Weather  and  road  alike  were  favorable,  and  we  reached  Nanaj 
at  sunset,  having  travelled  some  thirty  miles,  which,  owing  to 
the  late  start,  was  less  than  my  usual  march,  for  I  sometimes 
accomplished  fifty  miles,  and  occasionally  even  seventy.  But 
I  felt  fatigued  enough  to  be  glad  when  my  camp-bed  was 
stretched  for  the  night  on  the  floor  of  the  chdpdr-khdnah,  after 
the  servant  of  the  post-house  had  swept  the  room  a  little  more 
clean.  There  was  much  talk  about  bandits,  as  the  post  had  been 
robbed  on  the  previous  night,  but  I  paid  little  attention  to  the 
stories,  fell  asleep  soon,  and  after  a  good  night's  rest  was  ready 
before  daylight  to  mount  Rakhsh  and  sit  thirteen  hours  in  the 
saddle. 

Our  cavalcade  halted  for  the  second  night  at  the  small 
village  of  Hassar,  and  we  rose  with  the  lark  again  next  morn- 
ing and  proceeded  along  a  well-watered  plain  that  was  fed  by 
streams  from  the  rocky  hills  on  the  right.  The  pace  of  our 
animals  was  good,  and  we  easily  overtook  several  caravans  that 
had  started  an  hour  ahead  of  us,  and  all  that  day  the  condi- 
tions were  favorable  for  rapid  progress.  It  was  Shakspere's 
birthday,  a  day  memorable  to  me  even  in  Persia,  and  the  season 

246 


246  FROM   HAM  AD  AN    TO    ISFAHAN 

of  spring  was  well  advanced,  so  that  I  had  an  opportunity  to 
watch  the  progress  made  by  the  peasants  as  they  tilled  their 
farms,  and  to  compare  their  way  of  working  with  the  agricul- 
tural methods  employed  in  Zoroaster's  day,  when  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  husbandman  was  synonymous  with  a  religious 
pursuit.1 

The  Avesta  alludes  to  farms,  fields,  and  husbandry;  it  praises 
the  work  of  the  laborer  who  tills  the  earth  '  with  his  right  arm 
and  his  left,  with  his  left  arm  and  his  right, '  and  lauds  the  irri- 
gation of  arid  land  and  the  production  and  harvesting  of  crops. 
All  kinds  of  work  connected  with  the  soil  were  equivalent  to 
acts  of  '  righteousness,'  and  the  agriculturist  ranked  next  to 
the  priest  and  the  warrior  in  the  constitution  of  the  Zoroastrian 
community.  Farming  is  not  a  lost  industry  in  Persia  to-day, 
but  it  has  made  little  progress  since  the  days  of  the  Avesta, 
more  than  two  thousand  years  ago. 

The  Persian  farm  is  not  fenced  off,  like  ours,  but  has  its 
boundaries  marked  by  trenches  and  watercourses,  which  the 
Avesta  describes  as  being  '  the  depth  and  breadth  of  a  dog,' 2 
or  has  its  limits  indicated  by  a  row  of  trees,  which  it  well 
repays  the  laborer  to  plant,  because  of  the  scarcity  of  wood  for 
fuel  arid  timber  in  many  parts  of  Persia.  The  government  to-day 
would  do  well  to  encourage  arboriculture,  as  it  apparently  did  in 
the  time  of  Darius.8 

The  implements  of  the  husbandman  are  still  of  the  most 
primitive  kind,  and  my  notes  regarding  them  will  serve  as  a 
commentary  upon  a  passage  in  the  Avesta  which  describes  the 
equipment  of  the  peasant.4  The  first  to  be  mentioned  is  the 
plow  (Avestan  aesha.  Mod.  Pers.  khlsh)  which  I  have  already 
described  as  a  rude  affair,6  consisting  generally  of  the  crotch  of 
a  tree  cut  so  that  one  of  the  branches  may  serve  as  a  plowshare 

1  See  Vd.  3.  23-33.  nische  Kultur,  pp.  373-387,  Erlangen, 

2  Vd.  14.  12-14.  1882. 

3  For  general  references  see  Dar-  4  See  Vd.  14.  10-11. 
mesteter,    Le   ZA.    2.    32  ;    Jackson,  6  See  pp.  85-86,  above. 
JAOS.   21.  183  ;  and  Geiger,  Ostlra- 


AGRICULTURE    NOW    AND    OF    OLD  247 

when  shod  with  iron  (cf.  Av.  ayazhdna  paiti-darezdna)  .l  Such 
a  plow,  as  contrasted  with  the  heav}^  plow  for  deep  furrowing, 
to  which  several  yokes  of  oxen  are  hitched,2  is  drawn  only  by 
two  cows  or  heifers  (cf.  Av.  gavd  azi)^  and  only  loosens  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  as  shown  in  my  photograph,  which  gives 
an  idea  also  of  the  kind  of  ox-goad  (Av.  gavdza)  and  yoke 
(Av.  yuyo-semi)  that  are  still  in  use  in  Persia.4  Another  stock 
article  in  the  peasant's  outfit,  which  has  remained  practically 
unchanged,  I  believe,  since  ancient  times,  if  we  may  judge  from 
an  allusion  in  the  Avesta,  is  the  handmill.  An  essential  part 
of  this  machine  is  the  round  hopper,  or  funnel,  into  which  the 
grain  is  poured  when  about  to  be  ground;  and  with  this  I 
would  compare  zgeresno-vaghdhana,  one  of  the  obscure  Avestan 
terms  applied  to  the  handmill.6 

A  third  article  used  by  the  Avestan  husbandman  was  the 
spade  (Av.  kastra).  The  Persian  spade  has  a  long  handle,  to 
which  is  generally  attached  a  wooden  foot-rest  to  serve  as  a 
support  for  the  foot  when  driving  the  spade  into  the  ground, 
as  shown  in  my  photograph.6  Instead  of  the  wooden  footpiece 
the  upper  part  of  the  blade  is  sometimes  bent  over  on  either 
side  so  as  to  form  a  metal  flange  on  which  the  foot  can  rest.7 
When  digging,  two  or  three  laborers,  either  barefoot  or  wear- 
ing the  Persian  glvahs,  work  side  by  side,  striking  the  shovel 
into  the  earth  at  the  same  time  and  lifting  it  again  at  a  given 
signal,  working  in  unison  as  they  cut  the  trench. 

1  This  is  at  least  a  suggestion  which  Persia  and  its  People,  pp.  109-112, 
I  offer  in  explanation  of  the  difficult  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  1899;    Adams, 
Avestan  words,  Vd.  14.  10.  Persia,  pp.  153-155 ;  and  Ker  Porter, 

2  See  the  illustration  in  the  chapter  Travels,  2.  533. 

on  Urumiah,  above.  5  So  I  explain  Vd.  14.  10,  asmana 

8  Ys.  46.  19  ;  cf.  Ys.  29.  5,  etc.  Havana,    ydvardnam    zgdrdsno-vaySa- 

4  For  the  technical    terms  in    the  ndm  ;  cf.  also  Knanishu,  Persia,  pp. 

Avesta,  see  Vd.  14.  10.    The  photo-  107-109.     Query :  cf.  Nir.  94. 

graph  which  I  took  was  snapped  be-  6  This  photograph  I  took  between 

tween  Hassar  and  Leilhahan,  on  the  Hamadan  and  Asadabad. 

third    day    after    leaving    Hamadan.  7  This  I  noted  particularly  at  Kurd 

For  illustrations  and  descriptions  of  Balah,  near  Isfahan,  and  then  more 

plows    and    plowing,    see    Knanishu,  generally  as  I  passed  southward. 


248  FROM   HAMADAN    TO    ISFAHAN 

In  tilling  the  fields  an  ordinary  large  rake  and  harrow  are 
employed,  and  sometimes  a  flat  scraper,  with  spikes  around  the 
lower  edge  and  with  handles  above  to  guide  it,  is  drawn  over 
the  field  by  oxen.  A  mallet  is  likewise  employed  to  break  up 
the  clods  after  plowing.  The  hoe,  as  far  as  my  observations 
served  me,  has  cords  attached  to  it,  which  are  pulled  by  one  of 
the  workmen  while  another  guides  the  implement.1  The  sickle 
which  is  used  in  cutting  the  grain  at  harvest  time  I  shall 
describe  in  a  later  chapter.  The  manner  of  threshing  it  is  as 
primitive  as  in  early  Bible  times.  The  wheat  or  barley  is 
commonly  trodden  under  the  feet  of  muzzled  oxen  or  mules, 
who  drag  over  it  a  sort  of  sled  ;  but  sometimes  it  is  crushed 
beneath  a  spiked  roller  or  flailed  with  a  peculiar  flail,  after 
which  the  chaff  is  separated  from  the  wheat  by  the  winnowing 
process  when  a  good  wind  is  blowing.  The  threshing-floor 
itself  is  usually  situated  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village,  and 
lumbering  carts  Qardbah)  carry  the  grain  to  the  barn  of  the 
peasant,  or  more  often  to  the  granary  of  the  landlord. 

Our  halt  on  the  night  of  the  third  day  was  at  Leilhahan,  a 
settlement  of  a  thousand  families,  I  should  judge,  the  majority 
of  them  being  Armenians.  Here  I  was  visited  by  a  native 
preacher,  Rev.  Rabin  Joseph,  who  was  doing  evangelistic  work 
among  the  people  of  the  place.  He  spoke  English  quite  well, 
having  acquired  it  at  the  Urumiah  Mission,  and  was  European- 
ized  to  the  extent  of  collecting  souvenir  post-cards  from 
foreign  countries,  and  he  asked  me  to  add  one  from  America  to 
his  album,  a  request  which  I  fulfilled  before  the  year  was  past. 
He  gave  me  useful  information  regarding  my  route  for  the  fol- 
lowing day,  and  advised  me  to  take  the  longer  road  to  Khomain 
because  the  shorter  route  was  at  the  time  infested  by  brigands, 
who  had  pillaged  several  caravans. 

An  early  start  next  morning  brought  me  before  eight  o'clock 
to  Khomain,  and  I  was  directed  to  the  house  of  the  chief  man 
of  the  place.  His  courtyard  was  filled  with  servants,  though 

1  For  illustrations,  see  Knanishu,  Persia,  p.  110 ;  Adams,  Persia,  p.  154. 


LEILHAHAN    AND    GULPAIGAN  249 

he  himself  had  not  risen,  but  he  sent  a  message  that  he  would 
be  ready  in  a  few  minutes  to  receive  me,  which  he  did  with  a 
gracious  welcome.  In  manners  he  was  Eastern,  but  in  costume 
more  European  than  Persian,  and  the  watch  which  he  wore 
was  carried  so  as  to  be  appropriately  conspicuous.  His  black 
wool  hat  was  wholly  Iranian  in  appearance,  however,  being  a 
replica  of  the  balloon-shaped  head-covering  worn  in  Sasanian 
days,  and  I  noticed  that  this  style  of  headgear  was  peculiarly 
characteristic  of  the  people  in  this  vicinity.  He  served  tea  as 
an  act  of  hospitality  and  asked  various  questions,  until  it  was 
time  for  me  to  take  my  leave,  whereupon  he  sent  two  armed 
horsemen  to  accompany  me  over  a  part  of  the  road,  which  was 
dangerous  because  of  freebooters.  The  guards  proved  to  be  of 
little  use  beyond  raising  clouds  of  dust  as  they  made  their 
horses  curvet  in  circles  around  our  party  and  fired  shots  at  im- 
aginary robbers  supposed  to  be  lurking  in  the  hills.  By  the 
time  we  crossed  the  last  mountain  pass  I  was  glad  to  dispense 
with  these  attendants,  and  .we  descended  without  accompani- 
ment into  the  great  plain  in  which  lies  the  town  of  Gulpaigan. 
Gulpaigan  is  a  town  that  was  visited  by  the  famous  Italian 
traveller  Pietro  della  Valle  on  his  way  to  Isfahan  three  hundred 
years  ago.  He  says  that 4  it  resembles  Hamadan,  but  is  smaller,' 
and  that  its  name  is  composed  of  the  three  words  gul,  pdi,  and  gdn 
-  which  is  merely  a  popular  etymology.1  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  older  name  of  Gulpaigan  was  G-arbddakan  in  Persian,  or 
Jarbddakdn  in  the  Arab  geographers,  and  in  still  earlier  times 
it  is  said  to  have  been  called  Samroih,  after  a  daughter  of  the 
Keianian  queen  Humai  who  is  alleged  to  have  founded  it.2 

1  Pietro  della  Valle,  Viaggi,  1.  449 ;  see    likewise    Sadik     Isfahani,    Geo- 
Travels,  ed.  Pinkerton,  9.  21.  graphical     Works,    p.     86 ;     Mokad- 

2  See  Yakut,  p.  152,  for  the  former  dasi,    ed.    De     Goeje,    Bibl.     Geog. 
statement,    and    compare   Barbier   de  Arab.   3.    257,   402    (mere   mention); 
Meynard,    Diet.    geog.   de   la    Perse,  and  Ibn  Khordadhbah,  ed.  De  Goeje, 
p.    152,  note,  for  the  latter.     Yakut  6.     20,     155.       Consult     furthermore 
(p.   153)    speaks    of    '  Jarapadakdn '  Tomaschek,  Zur  histor.    Topog.    von 
(Gulpaigan)  as  '  a  large  and  celebrated  Persien,  in  Sb.  Akad.  Wiss.  zu  Wien, 
place.'    For  other  allusions  to  the  town  102  (1883),  pp.  168,  171. 


250  FROM   HAMADAN    TO    ISFAHAN 

Two  roads  approach  it  from  this  direction  across  the  wide 
plain.  Since  we  had  no  guide  to  direct  our  choice  I  selected  the 
one  to  the  right,  which  was  longer,  but  had  the  advantage  of 
conducting  us  through  the  entire  length  of  the  town,  as  it  led 
to  the  lower  end  of  the  main  street.  We  were  thus  able  to  see 
something  of  the  town,  which  I  judged  to  be  a  place  of  consider- 
able activity.  In  the  way  of  antiquities  I  noticed  a  number  of 
large  carved  stones  that  looked  as  if  they  were  ancient,  and  I 
observed  several  sculptured  rams,  with  horns  curved  into  a  tight 
spiral,  resembling  the  granite  figures  I  had  seen  elsewhere  in 
old  Armenian  settlements,  especially  in  the  burying-ground 
near  Dilman.1  From  the  impression  which  I  received  (an  im- 
pression borne  out  also  by  the  passages  I  have  cited)  I  believe 
that  Gulpaigan  would  be  an  interesting  place  in  which  to  make 
archseological  researches,  although  Ker  Porter  was  against 
attributing  any  great  antiquity  to  the  town.2 

I  did  not  halt  to  make  inquiries  regarding  ancient  relics,  for 
it  was  nearly  three  in  the  afternoon  and  I  was  anxious  to  reach 
the  next  station,  so  I  proceeded  at  once  to  the  principal  caravan- 
sarai,  which  I  found  so  crowded  that  many  of  the  muleteers 
were  obliged  to  lie  on  the  ground  by  the  side  of  their  beasts  of 
burden,  for  lack  of  other  quarters.  After  an  hour's  stay  we 
started  once  more,  allowing  sufficient  time  for  making  our 
second  station  before  nightfall. 

Our  route  lay  through  a  lonely  plain  girt  on  either  side  by 
barren  hills  which  sometimes  thrust  their  spurs  almost  across  the 
track.  Near  the  base  of  one  of  these  jutting  promontories  the 
worthless  guide  whom  I  had  hired  at  Gulpaigan  to  show  us 
the  way,  fell  into  a  violent  altercation  with  the  leader  of  my 
caravan  and  drew  his  carbine  to  shoot  him.  There  was  an  up- 
roar at  once.  Quickly  wheeling  my  horse  about,  I  struck  at 
the  good-for-nothing  rascal,  diverted  his  aim,  and  separated  the 
angry  combatants.  I  did  not  wait  to  argue  the  respective 

1  See  p.  79,  above,  and  compare  Ker          2  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  67-68. 
Porter,  Travels,  2.  614  (illustration). 


THE    GARDENS    OF    KHONSAR  251 

merits  of  the  claimants  in  the  case,  but  immediately  dismissed 
the  fellow,  with  a  threat  to  have  him  punished  by  the  governor 
of  the  district  if  I  saw  his  face  again,  and  restored  order  once 
more  in  the  excited  caravan.  We  had  no  further  trouble,  but 
had  to  trust  to  luck  in  finding  our  way.  This  was  not  difficult, 
however,  and  we  reached  our  destination  before  dark. 

Our  halt  for  the  night  was  at  Banishun,  or  Wanishun,  called 
4  Oniscion  '  by  Pietro  della  Valle.1  This  garden  spot  gave  us 
a  foretaste  of  the  still  greater  attractions  of  Khonsar,  where 
we  arrived  on  the  following  morning.  Khonsar  left  on  my 
mind  the  impression  of  terraced  hills,  abundant  streams,  green 
foliage,  and  blossoming  fruit  trees.  The  town  is  picturesquely 
situated  in  a  long  and  narrow  gorge  between  high  hills  and 
through  this  passage  it  winds  its  way  for  five  or  six  miles,  now 
at  the  base  of  the  mountains  and  now  climbing  over  their 
spurs.  It  is  a  settlement  of  some  twelve  thousand  inhabitants 
and  is  believed  to  date  back  to  the  time  of  Alexander,  who  is 
thought  to  have  marched  through  it  on  his  way  to  Ecbatana.2  In 
Persian  the  name  is  written  as  Khudnsdr,  and  Yakut  says  that 
the  town  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  birthplace  of  several 
minor  poets.3  In  addition  to  ats  romantic  site  and  historic 
associations  Khonsar  is  a  place  that  does  a  thriving  business  in 
cotton  goods,  so  that  its  taxes,  combined  with  those  of  Gul- 
paigan,  with  which  it  forms  a  single  district  for  administrative 
purposes,  yield  a  considerable  revenue  to  the  government.4 
I  could  have  wished  that  the  town  had  a  municipal  ordinance 
to  prevent  butchering  sheep  in  the  public  streets. 

Directly  after  we  left  Khonsar  and  entered  the  mountain 
passes  of  the  Ashnar  Kuh  we  encountered  one  of  those  sudden 
changes  of  weather  which  are  characteristic  of  Persia,  for  we 
had  to  struggle  for  two  or  three  hours  through  snow,  hail, 

1  Pietro  della  Valle,  Viaggi,  1.  450;  8  Yakut,    p.    195;    cf.   Barbier   de 
Travels,  ed.  Pinkerton,  9.  21.  Meynard,  Diet.  geog.  p.  195,  note,  and 

2  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  2.  70 ;  Zolling,  also  Sadik  Isfahan!,  p.  94  ;  Tomaschek, 
Alexanders  des   Grossen  Feldzug  in  op.  cit.  p.  170. 

Central- Asien,  p.  79,  Leipzig,  1875.  *  See  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  480. 


252  FROM    HAMADAN    TO    ISFAHAN 

sleet,  torrents  of  water,  slush,  and  mud,  which  transferred  us 
from  April  25  back  into  the  heart  of  winter.  About  four  miles 
this  side  of  Dombanah  I  noticed  the  snow-covered  outlines  of  a 
rectangular  structure  which  looked  as  if  it  might  have  been 
one  of  those  square-shaped  dakhmahs,  or  Towers  of  Silence, 
pictured  in  the  old  volume  of  travels  by  Olearius  three  cen- 
turies ago.1  I  dismounted  to  examine  the  general  contour  and 
arrangement  of  the  place,  but  the  snow  prevented  me  from 
making  a  careful  investigation.  There  were  many  fragments 
of  bricks  and,  in  the  middle  of  the  enclosure,  a  depression  which 
might  have  corresponded  to  the  central  pit,  or  grave,  generally 
found  in  a  dakhmah,  but  the  ruin  seemed  to  be  too  remote 
from  any  present  settlement  to  have  been  an  ancient  ground 
for  disposing  of  the  dead.  I  am  not  unmindful,  however,  that 
in  early  times  the  entire  region  was  occupied  by  Zoroastrians 
and  that  I  was  not  many  stages  distant  from  the  famous  fire- 
temple  near  Isfahan,  the  ruined  sanctuary  which  was  my  goal. 
Halting  only  for  a  night  at  Kurd  Balah,  and  another  at 
Hajiabad,  I  arrived  early  in  the  forenoon  of  the  following  day 
within  sight  of  this  ancient  shrine  of  the  Fire-Worshippers, 
which  is  commonly  known  as, the  Atash  Kadah  or  Atash  Grdh 
near  Isfahan. 

The  sky  had  all  the  peculiar  clearness  which  belongs  to  a 
true  April  morning  in  Persia,  and  a  soft  light  quivered  over 
the  plain  beyond  Najafabad.  The  animals  of  my  caravan 
moved  slowly  along  the  well-worn  trail;  Shahbas,  the  muleteer, 
was  asleep  in  the  saddle  ;  but  my  own  eyes  were  busy  watch- 
ing to  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  the  Atash  Grdh,  or  Kuh-i  Atash 
Kadah,  'Hill  of  the  Fire-Temple.'  Far  in  the  distance  over 
the  level  horizon  there  arose  unexpectedly  before  my  view  a 
lake  bordered  with  delicate  green  cypress  trees,  and  I  fancied 
that  the  beautiful  spot  must  be  one  of  those  Persian  parks, 
or  'paradises,'  which  were  so  enchanting  in  ancient  Iran. 
Instinctively  I  quickened  my  horse's  pace  ;  but  suddenly  the 
1  Olearius  (1600-1671),  Persianische  Reise-beschreibung,  p.  296,  Hamburg,  1696. 


THE    AT  ASH    KADAH    NEAR    ISFAHAN  253 

picture  vanished.  I  then  became  aware  that  I  had  been 
deceived  by  a  mirage.  This  was  the  first  of  many  experiences 
with  that  magic  phenomenon  which  transforms  rocks  into 
ruined  castles,  bushes  into  troops  of  horsemen,  puddles  into 
sheets  of  clear  water,  and  molehills  into  mountains.  So  vivid 
was  this  first  impression  that  it  took  me  some  time  to  recover 
from  the  surprise,  and  I  felt  almost  inclined  to  question  my 
eyes  when  I  actually  caught  sight  of  the  ruined  fire-temple. 

The  deserted  shrine  stands  on  the  top  of  a  hill  which  rises 
about  seven  hundred  feet  sharply  above  the  plain  at  a  distance 
of  three  or  four  miles  from  Isfahan.  The  ascent  is  by  a  wind- 
ing path  which  starts  from  the  southeastern  slope  of  the  eleva- 
tion and  proceeds  by  a  series  of  natural  steps  formed  by 
ledges  of  the  unhewn  rock.  Fragments  of  bricks  and  pottery 
of  a  yellowish  clay  strewed  the  rough  pathway,  and  a  few  of 
these  which  I  found  were  decorated  by  ornamental  raised  lines. 

The  ruined  sanctuary  stands  on  the  very  crest  and  is  about 
fourteen  feet  high  and  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  octagonal  in 
form,  and  constructed  of  large  unburnt  bricks.  The  roof  was 
originally  a  dome,  but  most  of  this  vaulted  covering  has  fallen. 
As  shown  in  the  accompanying  photograph,  which  I  took  from 
the  western  side,  eight  doorways  look  out  toward  the  different 
points  of  the  compass.1  The  brick  and  stucco  columns  which 
form  the  sides  of  the  doorways  and  support  the  roof  are  so 
arranged  that  they  give  a  pillared  effect  to  the  temple.  There 
was  no  artificial  foundation  beneath  the  structure  ;  the  build- 
ing was  erected  directly  upon  the  natural  rock,  part  of  which 
thrusts  itself  into  the  middle  of  the  floor. 

On  entering  the  crumbling  fane  I  noticed  over  each  doorway 
a  sunken  niche,  the  lines  of  which  curved  symmetrically  to  a 
point  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  an  arched  finish  to  each 
entrance  on  the  inside.  Traces  of  a  brownish  plaster  or  stucco 

1  The  dimensions  of  the  shrine  are  height  of  doorways,  7  ft.  3  in.  (2.20 
nearly  as  follows:  height,  14  ft.  m.)  ;  width  of  doorways,  3  ft.  7  in. 
(4.00  m.)  ;  diameter,  15  ft.  (4.50  m.) ;  (1.10  m.). 


254  FROM   RAMADAN    TO    ISFAHAN 

were  preserved  in  these  panels,  and  portions  of  the  dome  and 
walls  which  were  above  ordinary  reach  were  still  intact. 
Imagination  alone  could  restore  the  original  finish  of  the  walls, 
whether  a  layer  of  tiles,  a  wainscoting  of  marble,  or  panels  of 
stone  around  the  columns.  There  was  not  a  trace  of  an  inscrip- 
tion, tablet,  or  sculpture  anywhere  to  be  seen,  except  modern 
Persian  names  written  by  those  who  had  scrambled  up  to 
scrawl  their  signatures  in  its  niches.  The  Oriental  does  not 
differ  much  from  some  of  his  cousins  in  the  West  in  the  repre- 
hensible fondness  for  inscribing  his  name  in  conspicuous  places. 
The  floor  of  the  sanctuary  was  13  feet  8  inches  in  diameter 
(4.16  m.);  it  was  nearly  circular  in  shape,  and  in  the  centre 
there  was  the  curved  outline  of  what  was  probably  a  mortar 
base  on  which  the  fire-altar  rested.  Beneath  the  debris  I  found 
ashes ;  who  knows  whether  some  of  them  may  not  have  kindled 
the  fire  of  the  Magi  ? 

In  addition  to  the  shrine,  the  summit  of  the  hill  is  capped  by 
the  remains  of  a  series  of  buildings  which  are  gathered  about 
the  fane  itself,  but  stand  a  little  below  it,  and  occupy  the  south- 
eastern, eastern,  and  northeastern  sides  of  the  hill-crest.  These 
form  together  a  part  of  the  general  temple  precinct,  having 
probably  served  as  an  abode  for  the  priests,  a  sanctum  for  the 
fire,  and  perhaps  also  as  a  temple  treasury.  The  design  and 
arrangement  reminded  me  of  the  ruined  sanctuary  of  fire  which 
I  noticed  near  Abarkuh  on  my  journey  to  Yezd. 

To  examine  the  crumbling  chambers  I  had  to  descend  a  few 
paces  from  the  sacred  building  which  I  had  been  inspecting. 
Some  walls  of  a  ruined  edifice  on  the  southeastern  side  of  the 
summit  first  attracted  my  attention.  They  were  the  remnants 
of  a  succession  of  halls  and  rooms  built  of  clay  and  brick  ac- 
cording to  a  definite  plan  of  construction,  but  they  were  all  in 
a  hopeless  state  of  dilapidation.  I  turned  from  these  to  the 
northeastern  side  of  the  crest.  Here  I  found  a  still  more 
elaborate  structure,  but  even  in  a  worse  state  of  ruin  than  the 
preceding.  One  room,  about  twenty  feet  square,  was  still  in  a 


RUINS    OF    THE    SANCTUARY  255 

sufficient  state  of  preservation  to  allow  me  to  make  out  its  gen- 
eral outlines,  but  it  was  filled  halfway  up  the  sides  with  dirt 
and  rubbish.  The  walls  were  made  of  clay  and  bricks  covered 
over  with  plaster,  and  two  of  the  side  walls,  which  had  no 
doorway  or  window,  were  marked  by  blind  arches  indicated  by 
columns  of  unburnt  brick  and  capped  by  burnt 
bricks  set  in  the  manner  here  shown,  to  lend  a 
decorative  'effect. 

There  were  also  niches  in  the  wall,  resembling  the  familiar 
tdkchahs  seen  in  modern  Persian  houses.  The  other  two  sides  of 
the  room,  as  shown  in  my  photograph,  had  archways  looking 
out  over  the  plain,  and  the  view  from  these,  comprising  the 
silver  thread  of  the  Zendah  Rud  River  and  a  rich  succession  of 
gardens  about  Isfahan,  was  a  contrast  to  the  ruin  and  decay 
which  reigned  within  the  walls.  Besides  the  chamber  which  I 
have  been  describing,  there  was  still  another  ruined  apartment, 
the  stuccoed  walls  and  outlines  of  which  could  be  seen  ;  but  it 
was  smaller  than  the  one  I  have  just  mentioned  and  had  nothing 
particular  about  it  to  require  special  notice. 

After  I  had  inspected  the  ruins  I  made  some  observations 
with  regard  to  the  general  contour  of  the  hill.  The  sides  drop 
with  a  fairly  steep  declivity,  except  at  one  particular  point,  and 
there  a  defensive  wall  guards  the  approach  to  the  shrine. 
No  one  knows  how  often  it  may  have  been  of  service  in  ages 
past.  As  I  descended  from  the  hill  I  noticed  several  arched 
recesses  on  the  side  of  the  crest.  They  looked  like  cells  and 
were  partly  constructed  of  large  sun-dried  bricks,  like  those  at 
Rei.  Some  of  these  recesses  were  small,  others  fairly  large. 
One  of  them,  which  showed  careful  construction,  was  about 
twelve  feet  deep,  three  feet  wide,  and  less  than  four  feet  high. 
I  have  no  opinion  to  express  regarding  the  original  purpose  of 
these  cells.  They  were  in  too  exposed  a  position  to  allow  one 
to  conjecture  that  they  may  have  been  used  as  places  of  deposit 
for  the  temple  treasure,  and  it  would  be  hazardous  to  surmise 
that  they  were  intended  to  be  hermit  cells,  or  that  they  were 


256  FROM    HAM  AD  AN    TO    ISFAHAN 

employed  as  shrines  for  consecrated  lamps,  or  as  repositories 
in  which  the  wood  for  the  sacred  fire  was  prepared. 

This  is  but  one  of  a  number  of  interesting  problems  con- 
nected with  the  fire-temple  and  its  history.  For  the  very 
reason  that  the  subject  has  been  little  dealt  with,  I  have  gone 
into  more  detail  in  describing  the  appearance  of  the  ruined 
shrine,  and  I  shall  continue  this  by  giving  such  an  account  of 
its  historic  past  as  I  am  able  to  present.  I  have  not  been  able 
to  find  anything  on  the  subject  in  five  of  the  earliest  European 
travellers  :  Josafa  Barbaro,  Pietro  della  Valle,  Herbert,  Olearius, 
and  Mandelslo.  So  far  as  I  can  see,  Tavernier,  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  is  the  first  Occidental  to  mention  it.  I  shall 
give  his  statement  and  those  of  his  successors,  and  after  that 
I  shall  cite  three  or  four  Oriental  authorities,  which  are  cen- 
turies older  than  the  early  French  traveller  and  will  give  con- 
siderable help  toward  identifying  the  temple  historically. 

Tavernier,  who  made  several  journeys  to  Persia  between  the 
years  1638  and  1663,  alludes  incidentally  to  the  ruins  in  ques- 
tion as  a  'fortress,'  but  he  does  not  associate  them  with  the 
ancient  religion  of  Persia.  His  statement  is  this  :  — 

'Upon  the  south  (southwest?),  about  two  leagues  from  Isfahan, 
lies  a  very  high  mountain,  on  the  top  whereof  toward  the  west  are 
to  be  seen  the  remains  of  a  very  strong  fortress,  where  Darius  kept 
himself  when  Alexander  gave  battle  to  him  in  that  plain.  In  the 
side  of  the  rock  is  a  grotto,  either  natural  or  artificial  or  both,  out 
of  which  issues  a  natural  spring  of  excellent  water,  where  a  Dervis 
usually  inhabits.'  l 

Daulier-Deslandes  (1665)  merely  mentions  the  mountain 
in  connection  with  Gabarabad,  the  Gabar  suburb  of  Isfahan.2 

Chardin  (1666,  1677)  confines  his  remarks  to  a  few  words 
about  'le  Bourg  des  Guebres '  when  he  is  describing  the  section 
known  as  the  Gabar  settlement  near  Isfahan,  which  was  cleared 

1  Tavernier,  Travels,  p.  149,  London,  la  Perse,  p.  61  (cited  from  Hyde, 
1684.  Historia  Eeligionis  Veterum  Persa- 

8  Daulier-Deslandes,  Les  Beautez  de      rum,  p.  359). 


EARLY    DESCRIPTIONS    OF    THE    TEMPLE  257 

by  Shah  Abbas  in  order  to  make  room  for  a  part  of  the  royal 
residence  in  the  environs.1 

Bell  (1715)  repeats  the  story  which  speaks  of  Darius  and 
Alexander.  The  Englishman's  statement  reads  as  follows  : 
4  About  three  or  four  miles  to  the  southward  of  the  city  are  to 
be  seen  the  ruins  of  a  tower  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  where  it 
is  said  Darius  sat  when  Alexander  the  Great  fought  the  second 
battle  with  the  Persians.'  2 

Ker  Porter  (1821)  devotes  a  paragraph  to  the  description  of 
the  hill  and  concludes  his  observations  with  these  words  :  4  But 
as  this  Attush  Kou  is  an  artificial  mount  and  stands  close  to  the 
quarter  of  the  city  where  the  Guebres,  and  particularly  those 
who  followed  the  arms  of  Mahmoud,  dwelt,  no  doubt  they 
reseated  themselves  in  a  spot  that  had  been  inhabited  by  their 
ancestors  from  the  first  peopling  of  the  banks  of  the  Zein- 
derood  ;  and  they  found  it  thus  marked  by  the  High  Place  of 
their  worship.'  3  Ker  Porter's  last  statement  is  right  in  so  far 
as  he  emphasizes  the  antiquity  of  the  place  ;  but  he  is  wrong 
in  calling  the  mount  '  artificial,'  as  an  examination  of  the  liv- 
ing rock  which  composes  it  would  have  shown  him. 

Sir  William  Ouseley  (1823)  has  a  mere  mention  of  the  hill : 
4  In  the  view  [from  Julfa]  is  seen,  above  the  bridge,  a  moun- 
tain distant  five  or  six  miles,  on  which  are  some  remains  of  an 
edifice  not  very  ancient  but  occupying,  as  tradition  states,  the 
site  of  a  ruined  Fire-Temple.  Hence  the  mountain  has  been 
denominated  Kuh  dtesh  Kadah  or  dteshgd h. '  4 

Ussher  (1865)  gives  a  brief  description  of  the  mount  and 
alludes  to  the  large  size  of  the  bricks  seen  in  the  ruins;  he 
adds  that  the  fire-temple  was  4  erected,  it  is  said,  by  Ardeshir, 
or  Artaxerxes.'5 

Lord  Curzon  (1892)  has  but  a  couple  of  sentences  on  the 

1  See  Chardin,  Voyages,  2.  105,  Am-  »  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  1.  437. 
sterdam,  1735.     Compare  also  Curzon,  4  Ouseley,  Travels,  3.  49,  and  pis. 
Persia,  2.  47.  Ivi,  c,  London,  1823. 

2  Bell,  Travels  in  Asia,  ed.  Pinker-  6  Ussher,  Journey  from  London  to 
ton,  7.  308,  London,  1811.  Persepolis,  p.  595,  London,  1865. 


258  FROM    RAMADAN    TO    ISFAHAN 

subject  of  this  4  isolated  rocky  hill,  the  summit  of  which  is 
crowned  by  some  ruins  of  mud-brick.  This  is  called  the  Atash 
Gah,  from  a  tradition  that  a  fire-altar  was  here  erected  by 
Ardeshir  (Artaxerxes)  Longimanus.  The  tradition  may  be 
true,  but  the  present  ruins  are  not  old.' l 

To  these  meagre  statements  I  am  now  in  a  position  to  add 
more  material  which  will  throw  fresh  light  on  the  subject  and 
carry  the  history  of  the  fire-temple  more  than  a  thousand  years 
back  of  the  present.  This  material  is  to  be  found  in  the  Arab 
geographers  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  who  call  this 
pyrseum  the  fire-temple  of  Mdrabin,  or  Maras  (according  as  we 
are  to  read  the  name  and  its  variants),2  the  name  of  a  village 
or  district  in  the  vicinity  of  Isfahan. 

The  first  of  these  Oriental  witnesses  is  Ibn  Khordadhbah 
(A.D.  816)  whom  I  have  already  quoted  on  several  other  occa- 
sions. In  describing  the  district  of  Isfahan  he  mentions  4  the 
village  of  Marabin  (v.l.  Maras)  in  which  there  is  a  citadel  built 
by  Tahmurath,  and  in  it  a  temple  of  fire.'3  This  statement 
shows  that  even  in  Ibn  Khordadhbah's  time  the  temple  was 
regarded  as  very  ancient. 

The  second  author  is  the  well-known  writer  Masudi,  who 
died  in  the  year  957.  In  his  Meadows  of  Gold,  written  in 
943-944,  Masudi  refers  to  the  fire-temple  near  Isfahan  as  the 
second  of  seven  sanctuaries,  which  were  originally  idol-temples 
devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  the  five  princi- 
pal stars.  His  statement  is  as  follows  :  '  The  second  of  these 

1  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  58.  historischen     Topographic    von    Per- 

2  The  reading  of  J^U    in  an  un-      sien^  p>  17L 

pointed  text  will   easily  account  for  8  Ibn  Khordadhbah,  ed.  De  Goeje, 

these  differences  in  spelling,  the  forms  Bibl.  Geog.  Arab.  6.  20,  transl.  p.  16. 

Maras,  Mdras,  being  in  fact  the  vari-  In    the    same    manner    Hamadhani 

ant,  and  Mdrabin  the  more  original.  (ed.  De  Goeje,  5.  265)  says,  '  When 

It  is  true  that  Ptolemy,  Geog.  6.  4.  4,  Tahmurath  reigned  he  built  the  vil- 

mentions    a    place,     Mappd<rtov,    near  lages  of   Marabin   (v.  1.   Maras)   and 

Aspadana  (i.e.  Isfahan),  but  we  can-  Ruvandast  in  the  district  of  Isfahan'  ; 

pot    be    sure    that     this     was    the  and  again  (6.  263)  he  associates  4Jei 

ancient  Maras,   cf.    Tomaschek,  Zur  (i.e.  Julfa)  and  Marabin.' 


IDENTIFICATION    OF    THE    SITE  259 

temples  is  situated  on  the  summit  of  a  mountain  called  Maras 
(Mdrablri),  near  Isfahan.  There  were  idols  in  this  until  they 
were  removed  by  King  Yustasf  (i.e.  Vishtaspa,  the  patron  of 
Zoroaster)  when  he  adopted  the  religion  of  the  Magi  and  con- 
verted the  shrine  into  a  temple  of  fire.  It  is  three  farsakhs 
from  Isfahan  and  is  still  held  in  great  veneration  by  the 
Magi.' ! 

This  important  statement  by  Masudi  proves  conclusively  that 
the  temple  was  not  in  ruins  in  the  early  part  of  the  tenth 
century  of  our  era,  and  that  tradition  (like  the  previous  al- 
lusion to  Tahmurath)  ascribed  to  it  an  antiquity  even  prior  to 
Zoroaster's  day,  since  it  is  said  to  have  existed  as  a  shrine  of 
idols  before  Vishtaspa  converted  it  into  a  fire-temple.  I  feel 
positive  that  the  present  ruins  go  back  at  least  to  Sasanian 
times,  and  there  may  be  reasons  for  assigning  them  to  a  still 
earlier  period.  The  site  was  certainly  an  ancient  one,  as  is 
shown  by  the  statements  of  both  the  Oriental  authorities  whom 
I  have  quoted,  and  there  may  be  grounds  for  laying  more  stress 
on  the  tradition,  cited  above,  which  connects  the  temple  with 
the  name  of  Ardashir  Dirazdast,  known  to  us  through  the 
classics  as  the  Achsemenian  king  Artaxerxes  Longimanus.  This 
monarch  reigned  B.C.  465-425,  a  century  and  a  half  after  the 
date  assigned  by  tradition  to  Vishtaspa,  and  it  is  said  in  the 
Bahman  Yasht  that  he  made  the  religion  of  Zoroaster  current 
in  the  whole  world.2 

In  corroboration  of  such  a  suggestion  regarding  Bahman's 
connection  with  this  particular  fire-temple  I  may  cite  the 
authority  of  a  third  Oriental  writer,  Ibn  Rostah  (about  A.D. 
950)  who  says :  '  Marabin  borders  upon  the  town  of  Jei.  It 
was  one  of  the  pleasure-grounds  of  the  early  Khosrus.  Kei 

1  For  the  original  text  of  Masudi  and  repeats  practically  the  same  statement 

a  French  translation,  see    Les  Prai-  as    that    which    I    have    quoted,   see 

ries   d'Or,  ed.   Barbier  de   Meynard,  Vullers,     Lexicon     Persico-Latinum, 

4.  47,  Paris,  1865.     I  may  add  that  s.  v.  Maras. 

Muhammad  Hasan  Burhan  (1651),  in  2  BYt.   2.    17  ;   see  my  Zoroaster, 

his  Persian  dictionary  Burhan  Kdta1-,  p.  160. 


260  FROM    HAMADAN    TO    ISFAHAN 

Kaus  is  said  to  have  resided  there  and  to  have  beautified  the 
place.  At  his  command  a  lofty  and  magnificent  citadel  was 
erected  on  the  mountain  peak  there.  It  towered  aloft  so  as  to 
overlook  the  valley  of  the  Zendah  Rud  ; l  and  from  its  summit 
there  was  a  commanding  view  of  the  entire  country.  But  King 
Bahman,  son  of  Isfendiar  (i.e.  Vohuman  Ardashir  Dirazdast),2 
took  possession  of  it  and  burned  it ;  and  he  built  below  it  a 
stronghold  and  established  in  it  a  shrine  of  fire  which  stands 
till  this  day,  and  even  the  fire  remains  in  it.'3 

A  similar  tradition  connecting  the  temple  with  the  name 
of  Ardashir  Bahman  Dirazdast  (Artaxerxes  Longimanus)  is 
preserved  in  the  annals  written  by  Hamzah  of  Isfahan  (A.D. 
eleventh  century),  who,  as  a  native,  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  traditions  of  Isfahan.  He  writes  as  follows  regarding 
Ardashir  Bahman :  4  He  founded  in  one  day  three  fire-temples 
in  the  Province  of  Isfahan.  The  first  was  in  the  east,  the 
second  in  the  west,  and  the  third  in  the  middle.  The  first  of 
these  is  situated  near  the  citadel  of  Marin  (i.e.  Mar^al^m,  or 
Mdras)  and  is  the  Fire  of  Shahr  Ardashir,  the  word  Shahr  sig- 
nifying district,  and  Ardashir  being,  a  name  of  Bahman ;  the 
second  is  the  Fire  of  Zervan  Ardashir,  located  in  the  territory 
of  Darak  called  Barkah  ;  and  the  third  is  the  Fire  of  Mihr 
Ardashir,  located  in  the  territory  of  Ardistan  of  the  same 


name. 


'  4 


One  other  Oriental  passage  is  to  be  mentioned.  It  is  found 
in  a  Persian  history  of  Isfahan  based  on  an  Arabic  original 
composed  in  the  year  A.D.  1030  by  Mufaddal  b.  Seid  b.  Al- 
Husein  Al-Mafarrukhi  and  entitled  Risdlatu  Mahdsini  Isfahan. 
But  it  must  be  noticed  that  this  source  attributes  the  temple 

1  The  text  has  Zarrinrudh.  Barkah  compare  Yakut,  pp.  99,  222. 

2  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  157-163.  Yakut  (p.  509)  has  a  brief  mention 
8  Ibn  Rostah,  ed.  De  Goeje,  Bibl.       only  of  a  place  which  he  calls  Mar- 

Geog.  Arab.  7.  152-153.  banan,  situated    « one  half  farsakh  ' 

4  See  Hamzah  of  Isfahan,  Annalium  from  Isfahan,  but  he  makes  no  men- 

Libri  X,  ed.  Gollwaldt,  2.  p.  27,  Leip-  tion  of  the  fire-temple, 
zig,  1848.    For  the  names  Darak  and 


A    FAMOUS    FIRE-TEMPLE  261 

rather  to  Sasanian  times,  assigning  it  to  the  reign  of  Piruz, 
son  of  Yazdagard  (A.D.  459-484),  and  ascribing  its  erection  to 
Adhar-Shapur,  the  head  man  of  the  village  of  Muristan  in  the 
district  of  Marabin.1 

Whether  we  ultimately  decide  to  assign  the  origin  of  the 
temple  to  Achsemenian  times  or  to  assign  the  present  ruins  to 
Sasanian  times,  something  has  been  added  to  our  knowledge  of 
the  shrine  and  its  site  by  carrying  its  history  back  for  at  least 
fifteen  centuries.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  present  to  know  that 
the  sacred  fire  burned  for  ages  upon  its  altar  and  we  may  leave 
it  to  the  future  to  decide  to  which  particular  Zoroastrian  divin- 
ity the  temple  may  have  been  dedicated. 

1  For  this  reference,  see  the  article  tory  of  Isfahan,  in  JEAS.  1901,  pp. 
by  Browne,  A  Eare  Manuscript  His-  417-418. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
ISFAHAN,   THE   FORMER  CAPITAL 

*  Following  on  or  iorney  we  came  to  a  towne  called  SPAHAM,  which  hath  been  a 
notable  town  till  of  late. ' 

—  JOSAFA  BARBARO  (1474),  Travels  in  Persia,  p.  71. 

GARDENS,  palaces  and  pavilions,  mosques  and  madrasahs, 
bazaars,  splendid  bridges,  and  above  all  a  magnificent  Royal 
Square  —  these  are  the  impressions  which  the  traveller  carries 
away  from  Isfahan,  and  so  vivid  are  they  that  time  dulls  them 
but  slowly.  The  city  has  a  special  claim  to  attention,  as  it  was 
ranked  as  the  metropolis  of  Persia  from  the  sixteenth  to  the 
eighteenth  century,  before  Teheran  usurped  its  place  as  capital 
of  the  Shah's  dominion.  Isfahan,  nevertheless,  retains  its 
traditional  title  Nisf-i  Jahdn,  4  Half  the  World,'  even  though 
the  rest  of  the  world  to-day  may  know  it  only  as  a  centre  of 
trade  in  rugs,  or  possibly  as  the  scene  of  the  Persian  novel, 
Hajji  Baba  of  Isfahan. 

The  city  lies  in  a  level  tract  of  country  which  extends 
around  it  for  miles.  Entrance  to  the  town  is  made  through  a 
maze  of  walled  vineyards  and  orchards,  whose  variety  of  color 
resembles  a  Persian  carpet.  Mosques  pierce  the  sky-line  with 
their  slender  minarets,  or  rival  the  blue  of  heaven  with  their 
turquoise  domes;  poplars  and  plane  trees  lend  grace  and  color 
to  the  scene;  and  distant  hills  form  a  serrated  background  for 
the  picture.  A  peculiar  feature  of  the  landscape  is  the  large 
number  of  pigeon-towers  which  line  the  sides  of  the  road  and 
dot  the  plain  beyond.  These  turreted  columbaries,  which  are 
built  of  clay  and  brick  and  look  like  windmills  that  have  lost 
their  arms  and  sails,  provide  shelter  for  myriads  of  pigeons  and 

262 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


FLANDIN'S  SKETCH  OF  THE  HILL  OF  THE  ISFAHAN  FIRE-TEMPLE,  WITH  A 
PIGEON-TOWER  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


ISFAHAN  AND  THE  BRIDGE  OF  ALI  VERDI  KHAN 


A    PERSIAN    DELHI  263 

form  a  lucrative  source  of  revenue  to  those  who  sell  the  drop- 
pings of  the  birds  to  be  used  as  a  fertilizer  on  the  neighboring 
fields. 

In  some  respects  Isfahan  offers  to  the  traveller  who  is 
attracted  by  the  modern  phases  of  Persia  more  objects  of  inter- 
est than  any  city  of  Iran.  It  may  be  true  that  the  city  has  lost 
much  of  the  splendor  that  distinguished  it  three  hundred  years 
ago  as  the  capital  of  Shah  Abbas  the  Great,  whose  lavish  hos- 
pitality to  the  foreigners  that  visited  his  court  is  described  by 
the  early  European  travellers,  Tavernier,  Chardin,  Sanson, 
Fryer,  and  Kaempfer.  It  is  equally  true  that  the  city  never 
fully  recovered  from  the  blow  that  it  suffered  in  the  eighteenth 
century  from,  the  Afghan  invasion,  which  lost  for  it  its  prestige 
as  capital  and  resulted  in  the  transfer  of  the  imperial  seat  to 
Teheran.  Nevertheless,  enough  of  the  old  lustre  remains  (even 
though  the  effect  is  sometimes  produced  by  tinsel)  to  make 
Isfahan  a  Persian  Delhi  and  a  worthy  rival  to  its  modern  suc- 
cessor on  the  Caspian  littoral.  I  cannot  quite  agree,  therefore, 
with  some  of  the  recent  writers  in  their  tendency  to  bemoan 
the  decadence  of  Isfahan  and  lament  over  its  vanished  glory. 
I  acknowledge  that  it  has  been  dimmed,  but  I  should  be  far 
from  accepting  that  pessimistic  view  which  would  interpret 
the  title  Zil  as-Sultdn,  '  Shadow  of  the  Sultan,'  held  by  its  gov- 
ernor, a  brother  of  the  Shah,  as  symbolizing  the  shade  into 
which  Isfahan  has  been  thrown  by  Teheran.  From  what  I 
could  learn  about  the  vigorous  possessor  of  this  umbrageous 
attribute,  I  should  judge  that  he  and  the  city  resemble  each 
other  in  being  very  substantial  shadows  and  important  factors 
in  Persian  affairs.  The  general  condition  of  the  people,  the 
evidences  of  commercial  activity,  and  the  apparent  signs  of  a 
growing  trade,  seemed  to  me  to  be  indications  of  promise  again 
for  the  future. 

I  have  called  Isfahan  a  modern  city;  it  is  so  in  its  present 
form,  for  it  owes  its  surviving  traces  of  beauty  to  Shah  Abbas  I, 
the  contemporary  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  to  his  successors 


264  ISFAHAN,    THE    FORMER    CAPITAL 

in  the  seventeenth  century.  Historically,  however,  Ispahan, 
or  Isfahan,  as  the  natives  more  generally  call  it,  can  lay  claim 
to  great  antiquity.  The  Greek  geographer  Ptolemy,  in  the 
second  century  after  Christ,  mentions  it  as  Aspaddna,  which 
would  be  the  equivalent  of  an  Old  Persian  word  signifying 
'having  horses  as  a  gift.'1  The  Pahlavi  texts  designate  the 
city  as  Spahdn,  in  one  case  mentioning  it  in  a  comment  on  an 
Avesta  passage,2  in  another  stating  that  the  original  governor 
was  Sparnak,  who  was  apparently  a  brother  of  the  hero  Rus- 
tam,3  and  in  still  another  adding  that  Rustam  and  King  Kaus 
defeated  Afrasiab,  the  great  enemy  of  Iran,  in  a  battle  near  the 
borders  of  Isfahan.4 

The  most  ancient  section  of  the  city  (corresponding  in 
part  to  the  modern  suburb  Julfa)  was  called  Jei  by  the  Arabs, 
a  name  which  answers  to  the  Pahlavi  Gral  and  the  classical 
G-dbae,  and  is  associated  in  some  way  with  the  name  of  Kavi 
the  blacksmith,  of  legendary  fame  in  Iran.5  Tradition  makes 
him  a  native  of  Isfahan  and  tells  how  he  headed  a  rebellion 
against  the  tyrant  Zohak,  or  Azhi  Dahaka,  of  Babylon.  Zo- 
hak  is  represented  as  a  monster  from  whose  shoulder  grew 
two  serpents  that  had  to  be  fed  each  day  with  the  brains  of 
children.  When  the  tyrant  caused  Kavi's  two  sons  to  be 
killed  for  this  purpose,  the  blacksmith  raised  an  insurrection, 
hoisted  his  leather  apron  upon  a  spear  as  a  standard,  marched 
with  the  hero  Feridun  to  Babylon,  and  overthrew  and  slew  the 

1  Ptolemy,  Geographia,  6.  4.  4  (A<r-       Gumanik  Vijar,    2.    2   (West,   SBE. 
vdSava).  24.  123,  ed.  Hoshangji  and  West,  pp. 

2  Phi.  Vd.  2.  23  (52)  ttgun  Spahdn.       11,  188). 

8  See  Bd.  81.  10,  tr.  West.  SBE.  5.  6  For  the  names,  cf.  Shatroiha-i 

140  ;  and  regarding  the  uncertain  Airan,  53  (Gal  or  Gae),  Strabo,  Geog. 

reading  of  the  governor's  name  as  728  (ed.  Meineke,  1015.  2),  and  Ptol- 

'  Sparnak,'  see  Justi,  Iranisches  Nam-  emy,  Geog.  6.  4.  7  (r<££cu).  See 

enbuch,  p.  307  b.  also  Marquart,  ErdnSahr,  p.  29.  The 

4  See  Great  Iranian  Bundahishn,  hero  is  called  '  Gavah  of  Ispahan '  in 

41.  7,  tr.  Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.  2.  402 ;  the  Persian  Sad  Dar,  63.  5  (cf.  West, 

cf.  also  West,  Gryndr.  iran.  Philol.  SBE.  24.  323).  On  Jei-Julfa,  see 

2.  102.  Another  incidental  allusion  also  Justi,  Grundr.  iran.  Philol.  2. 

to  the  city  is  found  in  Shikand-  485,  with  references. 


HISTORY    OF    ISFAHAN  265 

monster.  The  leather  apron  mounted  upon  a  spear  became 
the  national  ensign  of  Iran,  and  the  keeping  of  this  treasured 
emblem  was  entrusted  to  Isfahan  and  remained  its  cherished 
privilege  for  ages.1 

Another  quarter  of  Isfahan  in  early  times  was  called  Yahu- 
diah,  4  Jewry,'  having  received  its  name,  according  to  Persian 
tradition,  from  a  colony  of  Jews  who  came  to  Isfahan  as  exiles 
from  Jerusalem  in  the  reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar.2  The  Sasa- 
nian  king  Yazdagard  I  had  as  his  queen  a  Jewish  princess  of 
Gae,  or  Isfahan,  descended  from  these  exiles,3  and  there  is  still 
quite  an  extensive  settlement  of  Persian  Jews,  numbering  some 
five  thousand,  in  Isfahan. 

The  history  of  Isfahan  from  the  time  of  the  Mohammedan 
invasion  differed  little  from  that  of  other  Persian  cities  which 
were  conquered  successively  by  Mahmud  of  Ghazni,  Jenghiz 
Khan,  and  Tamerlane,  down  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  Shah  Abbas  lifted  the  town  to  the  rank  of  capital  of  the 
empire,  a  dignity  which  it  had  already  enjoyed,  though  only 
over  a  limited  province.  Its  central  position  is  such  as  to 
qualify  it  well  for  a  metropolis,  even  if  Teheran  has  now  an 
advantage  in  being  more  accessible  to  Europe,  and  it  is  certain 
that  during  the  two  centuries  of  its  ascendancy  Isfahan  merited 
the  renown  for  beauty  to  which  the  great  Shah  Abbas  believed 
his  capital  was  entitled.4 

The  topography  of  Isfahan  is  easy  to  grasp,  if  we  bear  in 
mind  that  the  city  lies  on  the  north  side  of  the  Zendah  Rud, 
and  that  Julfa,  its  Armenian  suburb,  lies  on  the  south  side  of 

1  See  Yakut,  p.  43.  Juives,     19.    41 ;    idem,     La    Heine. 

2  Al-Hamadhani,     ed.    De    Goeje,  Shasydn  Dokht,  in  Actes  du  Huitieme 
Bibl.    Geog.   Arab.   5.    261-262,   and  Congres   International    des    Orienta- 
Yakut,  p.  613.      On  Nebuchadnezzar  listes,  sec.  2.  193-198,  Leiden,    1892. 
cf.  also  Gray,  Kai  Lohrasp  and  Nebu-  4  For  additional  material  in  a  rare 
chadrezzar,  in  WZKM.  18.  291-298.  Persian  manuscript  relating  to  Isfahan 

8  See    Shatroiha-i   Airan,    53  (ed.  and  its  history,  see  Browne,  JEAS. 

Modi,     pp.    111-113),     and     compare  1901,  pp.  411-446,    661-704.      Cf.  also 

Darmesteter,    Textes  Pehlms  relativs  Houtum-Schindler,    Eastern     Persian 

au  Judaisme,  2.  41,  in   Eev.  fitudes  Irak,  pp.  119-129,  London,  1897. 


266  ISFAHAN,    THE    FORMER    CAPITAL 

the  river  and  is  connected  with  the  main  part  of  the  town  by 
several  fine  bridges. 

The  heart  of  the  city,  and  central  point  of  interest,  is  the 
magnificent  Meiddn-i  Shah,  c  Imperial  Square,'  which  is  men- 
tioned even  in  the  Shah  Namah 1  and  is  one  of  the  most  impos- 
ing plazas  I  have  ever  seen.  Its  length  from  north  to  south  is 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  its  breadth  from  east  to 
west  is  nearly  an  eighth  of  a  mile.  It  is  as  level  as  a  parade- 
ground,  and  as  we  canter  over  its  smooth  surface  we  are  re- 
minded of  the  days,  three  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  rulers 
of  the  capital  used  to  have  exhibitions  of  the  traditional  horse- 
manship of  the  Persians  given  here.  A  prize,  sometimes  a 
golden  goblet,  was  set  on  the  top  of  a  pole  in  the  midst  of  the 
vast  arena  and  shot  at  as  the  marksmen  galloped  by  ;  or  sides 
were  taken  by  the  princes  and  nobles  in  the  ancient  game  of 
polo,  ffui  u  chugdn,  and  a  large  marble  goal-post  is  still 
standing  at  each  end  of  the  Meidan  to  mark  the  terminus 
toward  which  they  drove  the  ball  that,  in  the  words  of  Omar 

Khayyam, 

'  no  question  makes  of  Ayes  and  Noes, 
But  Here  and  There  as  strikes  the  Player  goes.' 

But  polo  is  no  longer  played  here  ;  only  occasional  parades  and 
processions  are  held,  and  the  caravans  wend  their  slow  way 
across  it  to  unload  their  burdens  in  the  bazaars. 

The  four  sides  of  the  Meidan  are  bordered  by  low-galleried 
buildings,  the  uniform  outline  of  whose  roofs  is  broken  at  vari- 
ous points  by  stately  edifices  that  have  real  architectural  merit. 
These  I  shall  describe  only  briefly,  for  it  would  be  impossible 
for  me  to  add  anything  to  the  many  excellent  and  full  descrip- 
tions which  have  been  given  from  the  days  of  Ta vernier  and 
Chardin  to  Curzon  and  Browne.2 

1  See  Firdausi,  Shah  Namah,   ed.  reader    to    Lord   Curzon's  admirable 
Vullers-Landauer,      2.    746,    and    tr.  account  of  Isfahan  (Persia,  2.  18-69), 
Mohl,  2.  423.  which  summarizes  all  that  is  best  in 

2  In    general    I    should    refer    the  the  authorities  that  preceded  him. 


MASJID-I  SHAH,  THE  KING'S  MOSQUE 


PALACE  OF  THE  ZIL  AS-SULTAN,  PRINCE  GOVERNOR  OF  ISFAHAN 


AN    IMPOSING    PLAZA  267 

On  the  north  side,  at  a  point  leading  into  the  bazaars,  is  the 
Nakdrah  Khdnah,  'Music  Hall,'4 Band  Tower,'  where,  as  at 
Urumiah  and  other  places,  a  noisily  beaten  signal  and  a  blast  of 
horns  accompanies  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun.1  Conspicu- 
ous on  the  east  side  of  the  plaza  is  the  blue  enamelled  dome  of  the 
mosque  of  Sheikh  Lutf ullah,  which  dates  back  several  centuries. 
On  the  southern  side  of  the  square,  near  the  middle,  is  a  grand 
arched  portal  leading  to  the  handsome  Masjid-i  Shah,  4  Mosque 
of  the  King,'  which  stands  somewhat  back  of  it,  to  the  south- 
west. This  fine  specimen  of  a  Mohammedan  sanctuary  was 
founded  in  1612  by  Shah  Abbas,  but  it  is  now  unfortunately 
beginning  to  fall  into  decay.  On  the  west  of  the  great  quad- 
rangle, but  nearer  the  southern  end,  rises  the  Royal  Palace 
with  its  grand  entrance  Ali  Kapi,  a  sort  of  'Sublime  Porte.' 
The  Ali  Kapi,  with  its  open  porch  above,  and  columns  noticeable 
in  the  picture,  served  formerly  as  an  audience-hall  in  which  the 
Safavid  kings  received  ambassadors.  It  was  used  also  as  an 
asylum  of  refuge  for  fugitive  debtors  and  manslayers.  But  its 
importance  has  long  since  vanished.  The  Royal  Palace  itself, 
which  stands  back  of  this  entrance,  is  now  occupied  by  the  Zil 
as-Sultan,  the  Prince  Governor  of  Isfahan.  This  princely 
residence  covers  a  considerable  area  with  its  gardens,  courts, 
and  pavilions,  one  of  which,  the  Chahal  Situn,  '  Hall  of  Forty 
Pillars,'  was  famous  as  the  veranda  and  throne-room  of  Shah 
Abbas. 

The  bazaars  in  Isfahan  lie  behind  the  rows  of  buildings  on 
the  northern  and  eastern  sides  of  the  Meidan.  It  is  possible  to 
walk  for  two  or  three  miles  under  their  covered  shade,  or  rather 
to  push  one's  way  through  the  crowded  mass  of  camels,  don- 
keys, packs,  porters,  buyers,  sellers,  and  money-changers.  The 
bazaars  have  all  the  characteristic  features  which  I  have  already 
described  as  belonging  to  an  Asiatic  mart.  Their  trade  has 
preserved  for  the  city  some  at  least  of  the  prestige  which  once 
belonged  to  Isfahan  as  the  emporium  of  Persia.  Brocaded 

1  See  p.  104,  above. 


268  ISFAHAN,    THE    FORMER    CAPITAL 

cloths,  felt  goods,  saddles,  native  weapons  and  armor,  lacquered 
ware,  articles  of  silver  filigree- work,  and  objects  made  of  metal 
are  among  the  wares  exposed  for  sale.  I  still  can  hear  the 
deafening  rattle  and  beat  of  the  coppersmith's  mallet  and  the 
brass- worker's  hammer,  busily  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
useful  culinary  utensils  and  of  vessels  that  were  often  artistic 
specimens  of  Persian  metal-work. 

To  the  west  of  the  Meidan,  and  beyond  the  precincts  of  the 
Royal  Palace,  is  the  parklike  section  of  the  city  with  its  grand 
avenue  that  leads  to  the  river.  In  the  extreme  western  portion 
of  this  quarter,  and  beginning  at  the  grand  promenade,  is  the 
section  of  gardens  known  as  the  Hasht  Bahisht,  '  Eight  Para- 
dises.' In  the  midst  of  this  'paradise'  region  there  stands  a 
pavilion  built  by  Shah  Suleiman,  about  1670,  and  once  a  mas- 
terpiece of  the  creative  art  of  the  Safavid  dynasty,  but,  like 
its  surroundings,  it  has  been  allowed  to  run  down,  so  that  its 
beauty  and  sumptuousness  are  a  thing  of  the  past.1 

The  grand  avenue  itself  is  called  the  Ohahdr  Heigh,  '  Four 
Gardens,'  from  the  vineyards  which  Shah  Abbas  devoted  to 
this  purpose  when  he  embellished  his  capital,  and  it  is  some- 
times referred  to  as  the  'Champs  Elysees  of  Isfahan.'  It  is  a 
long  boulevard,  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  end  to 
end,  and  two  hundred  feet  broad,  laid  out  with  watercourses 
and  fountains  through  its  centre  and  with  promenades  shaded 
by  alleys  of  poplar  and  sycamore  trees  on  each  side.  Little 
is  left  to  tell  the  story  of  its  former  beauty  ;  neglect  and 
decay  are  all  too  evident. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  this  shaded  avenue,  between  it  and 
the  Meidan  as  we  ride  toward  the  river,  an  impressive  build- 
ing attracts  the  attention.  It  is  the  Madrasah-i  Shah  Husein, 
an  educational  institution,  built  about  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  by  Shah  Husein,  whose  name  it  bears,  and 
designed  as  a  college  for  the  training  of  mullahs  and  dervishes. 

1  For  a  description  of  this  «  Garden  2.  36-38  ;  Brugsch,  Im  Lande  der 
of  Nightingales,'  see  Curzon,  Persia,  Sonne,  pp.  317-319  (after  Chardin). 


MADRASAH  OF  SHAH  HUSEIN,  FROM  THE  CHAHAR  BAGH 


WITHIN  THE  COURT  OF  THE  MADRASAH 


THE    CHAHAR    BAGH   AND    THE    GREAT    BRIDGE         269 

The  handsome  portal,  with  its  doors  encrusted  with  brass  and 
chased  with  silver,  calls  forth  admiration,  and  its  turquoise 
dome,  girdled  with  arabesques  in  rich  yellow,  is  as  beautiful  as 
it  is  graceful.  But  much  of  the  exquisite  tiling  on  the  dome 
has  dropped  off,  and  some  of  the  marble  panels  on  the  outer 
wall  of  the  building  itself  have  disappeared,  while  parts  of  the 
framework  and  lattice  of  the  windows  are  broken.  But  within 
the  walls  of  the  Madrasah,  in  its  arched  cells,  Mohammedan 
students  continue  to  learn  the  Koran,  or  find  leisure,  in  their 
recreation  hours,  to  smoke  their  kalians  around  the  shady  tank 
in  its  courtyard. 

At  the  end  of  the  avenue  of  Chahar  Bagh  is  a  great  bridge, 
which  is  one  of  the  five  that  lead  over  the  Zendah  Rud  to  Julfa. 
This  bridge  is  called  Pul-i  Ali  Verdi  Khan,  after  the  name  of 
the  distinguished  general  of  Shah  Abbas,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
finest  bridges  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  It  is  about  twelve  yards 
broad  and  three  hundred  and  eighty-eight  yards  long  and  it 
spans  the  river  with  a  succession  of  thirty-four  arches  solidly 
built  of  brick  and  stone  masonry.  The  design  and  construc- 
tion of  the  bridge  is  such  that  it  offers  at  least  three  viaducts 
for  traffic  at  the  same  time.  The  main  causeway  is  for 
mounted  passengers  and  for  the  occasional  vehicles  that  trav- 
erse it.  The  galleried  arcades  on  each  side  of  this  are  for  the 
use  of  those  on  foot.  A  vaulted  passage,  in  addition  to  these, 
pierces  the  stone  arches  on  which  the  bridge  is  built  and  may 
be  employed  as  an  extra  means  of  transit,  if  needed.  All  day 
long,  till  nightfall  is  signalled  by  the  curfew  horn  of  the  Na- 
karah  Khanah,  this  great  bridge  is  thronged  by  an  unceasing 
crowd,  and  the  other  bridges  are  almost  equally  frequented  in 
the  daytime. 

It  was  toward  evening  when  I  first  crossed  the  Zendah 
Rud  and  had  a  view  of  the  picturesque  surroundings.  The  sun 
sent  long  slanting  rays  across  the  river,  whose  water  was  then 
high  from  the  melting  snow  and  whose  shimmering  surface  was 
stirred  by  the  breeze  into  a  thousand  sparkling  ripples.  The 


270  ISFAHAN,    THE    FORMER    CAPITAL 

shores  of  the  river  were  decked  in  the  rich  verdure  of  spring, 
and  the  banks  were  spread  with  bright  cloths  which  the  dyers 
had  laid  out  in  the  air  to  dry  after  their  day's  work,  and  these 
heightened  the  color-effect  of  the  picture.  In  less  than  half 
an  hour  I  reached  Julfa,  the  Armenian  suburb  of  Isfahan  and 
residence  of  most  of  the  Europeans,  but  once  a  sort  of  Persian 
Versailles,  the  royal  pleasure-grounds  of  the  Safavid  kings. 

Although  Julfa  occupies  an  older  site,  which  possibly  even 
corresponds  in  part  to  the  ancient  Gabse  and  Jei,  it  is  neverthe- 
less, in  its  present  form,  hardly  older  than  three  centuries,  and 
owes  its  name  and  Armenian  population  alike  to  the  fortunes 
of  war  and  the  wisdom  of  Shah  Abbas  the  Great.  About  the 
year  1603  that  memorable  monarch  gained  some  successes 
in  battle  over  the  Turks  on  the  northwestern  frontier  of  his 
realm,  whereupon,  for  political  and  other  reasons,  he  trans- 
planted several  thousand  families  of  Christian  Armenians 
from  Julfa  on  the  Araxes,  which  I  mentioned  in  the  third 
chapter, 1  and  settled  them  in  a  new  Julfa  on  the  outskirts  of 
his  capital.  Here  they  nourished  under  his  liberal  treatment, 
but  not  so  under  his  successors.  The  latter  were  less  generous 
in  their  policy  toward  these  colonists,  whose  number  conse- 
quently decreased  considerably  and  has  continued  to  fall  off 
down  to  the  present  time,  when  the  settlement  is  estimated 
at  not  more  than  three  thousand  souls.  They  are  still  Chris- 
tians, have  a  cathedral  (built  under  the  auspices  of  Shah 
Abbas),  and  one  or  two  places  of  worship  besides,  and  among 
them  the  Mission  of  the  Church  of  England  is  doing  earnest 
work. 

I  had  with  me  letters  of  introduction  to  the  Mission  House, 
and  I  chanced  to  overtake  my  prospective  host  and  hostess  on 
the  way  to  their  home.  They  had  returned  only  the  day  before 
from  a  fortnight's  journey  to  Shiraz  and  were  so  sunburnt  that 
I  almost  mistook  them  for  Eurasians  —  an  experience  which  I 
myself  met  with  later  in  the  journey,  when  my  own  face  had 
1  Of.  pp.  22-23,  above. 


THE  MEIDAN  OF  ISFAHAN 
The  Royal  Mosque  and  the  Porch  of  the  Palace 


PAVILION  OF  MIRRORS 


JULFA,    THE    ARMENIAN   SUBURB  271 

become  almost  as  dark  as  a  Persian's  from  weeks  of  exposure 
under  the  tropical  sun  of  Southern  Iran.  These  English  cousins 
received  me  hospitably  at  the  Mission,  and  we  soon  felt  like  old 
friends.  I  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  something  about  their 
evangelical  labors  and  also  about  the  philanthropic  work  in 
medical  and  surgical  lines.  The  sick  and  suffering  come  some- 
times from  a  distance  of  several  hundred  miles  for  treatment 
and  relief;  some,  alas,  come  suffering  from  the  effectg  of  bar- 
barous mutilations,  inflicted  as  punishments,  an  instance  of 
which  I  saw  during  my  short  stay  in  Isfahan. 

I  had  almost  forgotten  the  rumor  I  had  heard  on  the  road 
some  days  before,  to  the  effect  that  the  mail  had  been  robbed. 
On  reaching  Isfahan,  I  was  told  that  the  presumable  culprits 
had  been  captured,  but  I  thought  nothing  more  about  the  mat- 
ter. Next  morning,  as  my  host  and  I  were  riding  into  town, 
we  met  a  small  company  of  excited  people  following  a  man  who 
was  seated  upon  a  donkey  and  looked  deathly  pale.  He  held  up 
his  right  arm,  which  was  covered  with  a  cloth,  and  from  beneath 
this  a  purple  stream  of  blood  was  flowing.  We  took  little  heed 
of  the  fact  until,  a  short  distance  beyond,  we  met  another,  whose 
ashen  pallor  contrasted  with  the  ruddy  drops  that  trickled  into 
the  dust.  He  was  on  foot  and  alone.  A  hundred  yards  behind 
him  followed  a  third  man  seated  upon  a  small  white  donkey, 
which  was  stained  with  a  similar  crimson  stream  that  poured 
from  a  rag-swathed  arm.  Some  women  followed  behind  him 
and  were  beating  their  breasts  and  tearing  their  cheeks  with 
their  nails.  The  men  that  marched  behind  the  sufferer  ges- 
ticulated and  gave  vent  to  imprecations.  Seeing  that  we  were 
foreigners,  the  bleeding  man  cried  out  in  Persian,  k  Masters,  let 
the  sword  of  your  Government  be  sharpened  to  avenge  the  out- 
rage of  this  unjust  punishment !  '  In  an  instant  it  dawned  upon 
us  that  these  were  three  of  the  men  who  had  been  convicted  of 
the  robbery.  Their  right  hands  had  been  cut  off. 

The  manner  in  which  the  punishment  is  inflicted  is  as  brutal 
as  it  is  summary.  The  public  swordsman,  emboldened  to  his 


272  ISFAHAN,    THE    FORMER    CAPITAL 

task  by  a  dose  of  hashish,  seizes  the  prisoner  by  the  arm  and 
with  his  scimitar  slashes  the  hand  from  the  wrist.  No  care  is 
taken,  as  in  a  surgical  operation,  to  draw  back  the  skin  before 
amputating  the  member,  and  no  attention  is  paid  to  the  offender 
after  the  hand  is  severed,  except  to  thrust  the  bleeding  stump 
of  the  arm  into  melted  butter  and  let  the  victim  go.  The  three 
men  whom  we  had  just  passed  were  on  their  way  to  the  surgeon 
of  the  Christian  Mission  for  treatment.  In  each  case  he  had 
first  to  saw  off  enough  of  the  bone  to  allow  the  skin  to  cover 
the  lopped-off  member,  before  he  could  begin  treatment  for  the 
injury. 

This  was  not  all  of  the  incident.  When  we  reached  the 
Meidan,  there  was  a  crowd  gathered.  A  fourth  prisoner  had 
been  punished,  but  his  sentence  was  death.  In  such  cases  the 
execution  is  swift,  but  inhuman.  Steel  hooks  are  thrust  into 
the  doomed  man's  nostrils  and  his  head  is  quickly  drawn  back 
by  these;  a  hasty  gash  then  cuts  the  throat,  and  the  bleeding 
victim  is  tossed  upon  the  ground  to  go  through  the  death-agony 
before  the  eyes  of  the  gaping  crowd.  I  was  told  that  the 
sisters  of  the  dead  man  were  weeping  over  his  lifeless  body,  but 
I  turned  away  to  be  spared  the  sight.  It  is  true  that  the 
majesty  of  the  law  had  been  upheld  and  justice  administered  by 
the  sword,  and  that,  too,  in  the  public  square  near  the  doors  of 
the  very  bank  whose  post  these  highwaymen  had  robbed.  The 
road  was  now  safe  —  rah  saldmat  bud  —  but  what  a  way  of 
making  it  safe  ! 

Capital  punishment  of  this  kind  may  be  a  necessary  measure 
in  Persia,  but  its  barbarousness  is  none  the  less  revolting. 
Nor  does  it  effectually  eradicate  crime,  for  it  was  not  long 
after  this  incident  that  eight  men  were  punished  in  a  similar 
manner  in  the  same  public  square.  Four  of  these  had  their 
throats  cut,  two  had  their  hands  cut  off,  and  the  remaining  two 
were  hamstrung.  One  of  these  latter  had  previously  suffered 
mutilation,  some  eighteen  years  before,  by  losing  a  hand.  I  did 
not  hear  whether  eventually  he  died  from  being  hamstrung, 


BARBAROUS    PUNISHMENTS    AND    EXECUTIONS          273 

but  this  cruel  punishment  frequently  results  fatally.  In  much 
the  same  fashion,  as  I  learned  later,  three  bakers  at  Shiraz 
had  their  tongues  cut  out  for  selling  their  bread  at  too  high  a 
price.  But,  as  my  correspondent  concluded,  Iran  hamin  ast  — 
4  Persia  is  always  the  same  ! ' 

While  on  the  subject  of  Persian  punishments,  I  may  men- 
tion one  of  the  death  penalties,  inflicted  by  torture,  which  is 
still  in  use.  -  This  is  the  method  called  '  gatching  '  (from  gach, 
'gypsum,  mortar  ').  The  malefactor  is  plastered  up  in  gypsum, 
so  as  to  form  a  pillar  by  the  roadside,  but  with  his  face  exposed 
to  the  public  gaze,  and  there  left  to  die.  At  the  time  when 
the  late  Shah  was  assassinated,  five  persons  who  had  been 
accused  of  treacherous  designs  were  thus  put  to  death  on  the 
main  road  near  Shiraz.  At  Taft  near  Yezd,  moreover,  I  passed 
a  place  where  a  convict  had  thus  been  dealt  with  a  month 
before ;  but,  more  mercifully  for  the  victim,  he  was  immured 
in  the  mortar  with  his  head  downward,  so  that  his  sufferings 
were  less  prolonged.1  Instances  of  other  barbarous  methods 
of  execution  might  easily  be  multiplied. 

During  my  short  stay  in  Isfahan  I  found  time  to  inquire 
whether  there  were  any  Zoroastrians  engaged  in  business  there, 
as  I  thought  this  would  be  probable  in  so  large  a  place.  It 
seemed  the  more  likely  also  because  there  once  was  a  suburb  of 
Isfahan  called  G-abarabdd,  4  Settlement  of  the  Gabars,'  to  which 
the  German  traveller  Olearius  alluded,  three  centuries  ago, 
giving  a  picture  likewise  of  the  Tower  of  Silence  (dakhmah)  in 
the  vicinity.2  Thus  far  on  my  journey  through  Persia  I  had 
not  met  with  a  single  Zoroastrian,  but  had  only  heard  of  the 
one  at  Miandoab,  who  called  himself  a  4  Babi,' 3  and  had  learned 
that  there  were  two  or  three  Gabars  at  Sultanabad,  a  town 
largely  devoted  to  the  weaving  of  Persian  rugs,  but  I  had  not 

1  It  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  2  See  Olearius,  Persianische  Reise- 

the  pyramids  of  human  skulls  left  as  beschreibung,  Hamburg,  1696,  p.  293 

monuments  by  Jenghiz  Khan  and  (*  Kebrabath'),  p.  296  ('Dakhmah'). 
Timur  Lang  may  owe  their  origin  to  3  See  p.  119,  above, 

this  ghastly  practice. 


274  ISFAHAN,    THE    FORMER    CAPITAL 

been  able  to  visit  them  on  my  way  to  Isfahan.1  This,  therefore, 
was  my  first  opportunity  to  see  some  of  the  Persian  followers 
of  the  Prophet  of  Ancient  Iran. 

I  found  that,  although  there  were  some  six  of  them  doing 
business  in  the  bazaar,  only  three  resided  regularly  in  Isfahan  ; 
the  rest  were  Gabars  from  Yezd.  I  have  designated  them  as 
G-abars,  after  the  native  fashion,  but  this  term  is  derogatory, 
being  equivalent  to  'unbelievers,'  and  is  never  employed  by  the 
Zoroastrians  themselves.  They  designate  themselves  as  Zar- 
dushtidn,  4  Zoroastrians,'  sometimes  as  Bah-lHndn, 4  those  of  the 
Good  Religion,' 2  or  again  Fdrsls,  i.e.  'Parsis,'  from  Fars,  or 
Pars,  the  old  province  of  Persia  Proper.  As  for  the  name  '  Fire- 
Worshipper  '  (Atash-Parast),  the  Zoroastrians  in  Persia  as  well 
as  in  India  object  to  that  title.  They  claim  that  they  regard 
fire  as  a  symbol  or  manifestation  of  Ormazd,  as  an  emblem  of 
purity  and  power,  and  not  as  a  divinity.  It  would  be  equally 
logical,  they  urge  (and  I  was  prepared  to  hear  this  argument), 
for  Christians  to  be  called  'Cross- Worshippers'  after  the  symbol 
of  their  faith. 

Through  the  ever  ready  kindness  of  the  English  Director 
of  the  Imperial  Bank  at  Isfahan,  I  obtained  the  address  of  the 
principal  Gabar  merchant,  who  bore  the  old  Zoroastrian  name 
Bahman  Jamset,  that  is,  Vohuman  Jamshid,  and  I  proceeded 
to  call  upon  him  at  his  shop,  as  he  happened  to  be  in  the  city  at 
the  time.  He  was  a  man  over  six  feet  in  height,  and  large  in 
proportion,  and  he  was  dressed  in  a  snuff-colored  garment 
peculiar  to  the  Gabars.  His  face,  which  was  smooth-shaven, 
except  for  the  black  mustache,  was  round  and  full,  and  his 
features  showed  a  marked  contrast  to  the  Mohammedan  physi- 
ognomy, in  which  an  admixture  of  foreign  blood  is  often 
noticeable.  His  appearance  reminded  me  somewhat  of  the 
types  in  the  Old  Persian  and  Sasanian  sculptures  at  Behistan 

1  See  also  my  article,  The  Modern  2  The  name  Bah-Dlnan  is  generally 

Zoroastrians  of  Persia,  in  Homiletic  used  by  the  Parsis  in  India  to  denote 
Review,  48.  14-19,  New  York,  1904.  the  laity  in  the  Zoroastrian  community. 


A     ZOROASTRIAN    MERCHANT    OF    ISFAHAN  275 

and  Tak-i  Bostan,  especially  the  rough  bas-relief  figures  carved 
on  the  boulder  near  the  famous  inscription  of  Darius,  as  I  have 
already  described. l  His  manners  were  polite  and  dignified, 
but  I  did  not  understand  at  the  moment  a  certain  reserve  in  his 
demeanor,  nor  did  I  appreciate  his  almost  concerned  look  when 
I  began  to  question  him  regarding  the  subject  of  religion.  I 
afterwards  discovered  the  cause  :  there  were  a  number  of 
Mohammedans  present,  and  he  hesitated  to  speak  freely  in 
their  presence  about  his  faith.  A  meeting,  however,  was  planned 
for  the  next  day,  but  I  was  then  unfortunately  prevented  from 
keeping  the  appointment,  so  he  sent  word  forward  to  his 
brother,  Rustam  Shah  Jahan,  at  Shiraz,  asking  him  to  extend 
hospitality  to  me  in  case  I  should  call,  and  telling  him  about  my 
interest  in  Zoroastrianism  and  in  its  present  followers. 

At  Isfahan  there  were  a  number  of  other  matters  which  I 
should  have  liked  to  investigate,  for  I  felt  interested  in  the 
city  in  spite  of  the  signs  of  decay  and  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  Isfahanis  have  always  borne  a  reputation  for  untrust- 
worthiness  and  superficiality,  like  the  tinsel  and  veneer  on  some 
of  their  buildings.  I  should  likewise  have  been  glad  to  have 
an  opportunity  of  learning  more  about  the  condition  of  the 
people  themselves,  as  contrasted  with  the  past,  but  that  may 
well  be  left  to  others,  better  qualified  than  myself,  to  treat. 
I  neglected,  moreover,  to  perform  what  would  be  regarded  as 
a  '  Baedeker  duty '  in  European  travel  :  this  was  to  see  the 
Shaking  Minarets  of  Abdallah's  Shrine.  These  slender  towers, 
which  rise  from  the  roof  of  the  tomb,  oscillate  back  and  forth, 
describing  an  angle  of  several  degrees,  when  simply  pushed  by 
the  hand.  I  felt  privileged  to  forego  this  piece  of  sight-seeing 
in  order  to  hasten  my  departure  again  southward  to  visit  the 
historic  sites  of  Pasargadee  and  Persepolis. 

I  found  that  for  this  journey,  and  as  far  as  Shiraz,  I  could 
obtain  the  regular  post-horses,  as  I  was  on  the  main  route  over 
which  the  Persian  mail  is  carried.  I  decided,  therefore,  to  give 
1  See  pp.  210-212,  above. 


276  ISFAHAN,    THE    FORMER    CAPITAL 

up  my  caravan  and  allow  Shahbas,  who  had  been  my  chdrvdddr 
and  guide  for  a  month,  to  return  to  Urumiah  with  his  horses. 
I  was  sorry  to  say  good-by  to  Rakhsh,  whom  I  had  ridden  so 
long  ;  Safar  parted  also  somewhat  reluctantly  with  his  mount, 
which  was  known  as  the  '  brown  horse '  ;  a  farewell  was  taken 
of  the  gray  pack-horse  who  had  carried  his  heavy  load  so  well ; 
and  Shahbas  made  ready  to  ride  his  own  stumbling  jade, 
accompanied  by  the  others.  I  then  wrote  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation for  Shahbas,  stating  how  he  had  served  me  on  the 
journey.  Owing  to  the  broad  smile  which  lighted  up  his 
round  face,  as  it  had  so  often  during  the  four  weeks,  I  prob- 
ably made  the  report  somewhat  more  favorable  than  I  might 
otherwise  have  done.  I  paid  him  in  full  for  his  month's  work, 
gave  him  a  gratuity  of  from  two  to  four  krans  (twenty  to  forty 
cents)  for  each  day  that  he  had  served  me  particularly  well, 
and  added  an  extra  toman  (dollar)  for  every  day  that  he 
gained  for  me  by  reaching  the  several  destinations  earlier  than 
the  time  scheduled.  This  concluded  our  regular  business 
transactions  ;  but  I  wished  to  have  two  of  the  pack-ropes 
from  the  baggage  because  they  had  been  used  in  drawing  me 
up  the  Behistan  Rock.  Shahbas  still  had  an  eye  to  the  main 
chance,  and  he  made  me  pay  a  stiff  price  for  the  ropes,  but  I 
am  glad  now  that  I  have  them  as  a  memento  of  the  climb  and 
of  the  journey. 

Having  dismissed  Shahbas,  I  completed  my  arrangements 
with  the  head  of  the  chdpdr-khdnah  for  my  first  relay  of  post- 
horses  ;  but,  as  it  was  already  late  in  the  afternoon  when  we 
started,  we  made  only  ten  or  twelve  miles,  covering  the  dis- 
tance at  a  swift  gallop,  and  spent  the  night  at  the  hamlet  of 
Marg.  The  second  day  was  a  record-breaker;  we  rode  sev- 
enty-seven miles  in  the  hours  between  5.10  A.M.  and  10.45  P.M., 
when  we  reached  Yezdikhast,  one  of  the  most  curiously  situ- 
ated places  that  can  be  imagined.  It  is  perched  on  top  of  a 
rocky  height  that  looks,  as  one  approaches  it,  like  some  gigan- 
tic ship  that  has  been  turned  to  stone  in  the  midst  of  a  river- 


FROM    YEZDIKHAST    TO    MESHAD-I    MURGHAB  277 

bed  that  has  been  dry  for  ages.  Our  third  night  was  passed  at 
the  walled  village  of  Abadah,  eleven  farsakhs,  or  forty-two 
miles,  farther  on  ;  and  the  fourth  at  the  small  settlement  of 
Deh-Bid,  with  poor  quarters,  but  the  convenience  of  a  telegraph 
office.  Finally,  at  noon  on  the  fifth  day,  we  reached  Meshad-i 
Murghab,  the  nearest  halting-place  to  the  Tomb  of  Cyrus  and 
the  scenes  of  the  past  glory  of  the  Achsemenians. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

ANCIENT  PASARGAD^E  AND  THE  TOMB  OF  CYRUS  THE 

GREAT 

*  The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave  ' 

—  GRAY,  Elegy,  36. 

PASARGAD^E,  the  subject  of  this  chapter,  and  Persepolis,  the 
topic  of  the  next,  are  sad  themes,  in  a  measure,  for  both  are 
silent  cities  of  a  dead  past,  although  each  was  in  turn  the  capi- 
tal of  ancient  Persia  —  Pasargadee,  the  royal  seat  of  Cyrus  and 
Cambyses;  Persepolis,  that  of  Darius  and  his  successors  on  the 
Achsemenian  throne.  Cyrus  and  Darius  still  remain  in  effigy 
of  stone,  and  the  vestiges  of  royal  halls,  untenanted  for  more 
than  two  thousand  years,  bear  witness  to  the  departed  splendor 
of  a  period  of  grandeur  ;  but  ruin  reigns  supreme,  and  even  the 
tombs  that  housed  the  bodies  of  the  dead  kings  have  been 
crumbling  for  ages.  Time's  relentless  touch  has  worn  away 
the  clear-cut  features  of  these  monuments  and  destroyed  the 
beauty  of  their  lineaments,  yet  they  still  endure  to  mark  daily 
by  their  shadows  the  advance  of  centuries  across  the  dial  of 
eternity  and  to  give  tangible  evidence  of  the  ancient  magnifi- 
cence of  the  Persians,  whose  law,  like  that  of  the  Medes,  knew 
no  change  and  whose  sceptre  once  swayed  the  fortunes  of  the 
Eastern  World. 

V 

The  brilliant  career  of  Cyrus,  the  founder  of  the  Achaeme- 
nians,  took  Asia  captive  by  its  splendid  triumphs,  and  his  suc- 
cesses have  thrown  such  a  halo  about  his  memory  that  it  is 
sometimes  difficult  to  view  the  events  of  his  reign  in  their  true 
light  and  separate  facts  from  the  legends  gathered  about  his 
name.  This  is  due  in  large  measure  to  an  early,  and  for  the 

278 


OF  THE" 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE  TOMB  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 


THE  PLATFORM  OVERLOOKING  PASARGAD^J 


THE  ROYAL   SEAT  OF   CYRUS  279 

most  part  erroneous,  identification  of  Cyrus  with  the  shadowy 
figure  of  Kei  Khosru  —  an  identification  which  lingers  still  in 
the  hearts  of  the  Persian  people.  Whatever  value  we  are  to 
attach  to  the  picturesque  accounts  of  the  youth  of  Cyrus  as 
told  by  Herodotus,  Xenophon,  and  other  classical  writers,  his 
real  elevation  to  power  began  with  his  defeating  Astyages  and 
then  overthrowing  the  Median  Kingdom,  before  the  year  B.C. 
550. l  This  vanquisher  of  Media  next  conquered  Croesus  and 
the  realm  of  Lydia,  subdued  Ionia,  Lycia,  and  Caria  on  the 
west,  reduced  a  part  of  the  Hindu  Kush  region  in  the  east,  and 
at  last  humbled  the  proud  city  of  Babylon,  thus  rendering  firm 
the  foundations  of  his  vast  kingdom  before  death  stayed  his 
hand.  He  chose  as  the  seat  for  his  capital  the  spot  where 
he  had  first  gained  his  victory  over  the  Medes.  Here  he  built 
Pasargadse,  the  royal  city  whose  ruins  still  cover  several  miles,2 
and  here  he  erected  his  tomb. 

The  location  of  the  classic  Pasargadse  is  now  acknowledged 
to  have  been  on  the  Plain  of  Murghab,  about  six  miles  from 
a  present  small  settlement  called  Meshad-i  Murghab,  which 
I  reached  on  my  fifth  day  from  Isfahan  and  where  I  stayed 
over  night  on  three  different  occasions.  Pasargadse  is  not 
visible  from  Meshad-i  Murghab,  as  it  lies  beyond  a  low  range 
of  hills  that  encircle  the  plain  around  it.  An  hour's  easy  ride, 
crossing  once  or  twice  the  intersecting  channels  of  the  Polvar, 
or  ancient  Medus,  brought  me  to  the  foot  of  the  ridge.  The 
ascent  was  rough,  but  not  at  all  difficult,  and  as  the  horses  sur- 
mounted the  rocky  crest  a  sharp  bend  in  the  old  caravan-road 
threw  open  to  the  view  the  historic  Plain  of  Murghab  in  all 
its  rich  fertility,  spreading  its  green  expanse  fully  nine  miles 
in  one  direction  and  fifteen  in  another,  and  surrounded  on 
all  sides  by  hilly  barriers.3  As  a  battlefield  for  the  hosts  of 

1  For  details  see  my  article   Cyrus  3  For  a  topographical  map  of  the 
the  Great,  in  New  Internal.  Encyclop.  vicinity,  see  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  His- 
5.  582-583.  toire  de  V Art,  5.  444. 

2  Strabo,  Qeographia,  15.  3.  8. 


280  PASARGAD&  AND    THE    TOMB    OF   CYRUS 

Astyages  and  Cyrus  it  must  have  been  superb,  and  I  could  imag- 
ine the  women  of  Persia  gathered  on  the  hilltops  to  the  south 
to  watch  in  breathless  anxiety  the  issue  of  the  eventful  fray.1 
And  here  in  the  plain  I  could  see  memorials  of  the  victory  still 
surviving  in  the  granite  remains  of  the  capital  which  Cyrus 
had  founded. 

As  the  rider  begins  to  descend  from  the  northern  ridge, 
the  first  object  that  catches  the  eye  is  a  massive  platform  of 
stone,  built  on  a  terrace  to  the  left  of  the  way  and  overlooking 
the  plain  below.  It  is  outlined  in  immense  blocks  of  masonry 
and  is  believed  to  have  been  intended  for  the  foundations  of 
an  audience-hall  of  Cyrus.  If  so,  Mohammedan  tradition  has 
obliterated  the  historic  truth  by  dubbing  the  structure  Takht-i 
Suleiman,  4  Solomon's  Throne,'  after  the  usual  manner  in  which 
it  has  renamed  most  objects  and  places  of  Ancient  Persian  or 
Zoroastrian  date.  This  solid  piece  of  masonry  is  over  two 
hundred  feet  long  and  fifty  feet  broad,  and  in  many  places  the 
beautifully  matched  stone  blocks  of  the  facing  are  in  perfect 
order  and  still  show  the  mason's  building-marks  upon  them, 
while  in  others  they  have  been  torn  away  in  great  rows,  to 
furnish  material  for  buildings  in  after  ages.  In  every  instance 
the  great  cramp-irons  that  secured  the  blocks  have  been  gouged 
out,  leaving  holes  that  afford  nesting-places  for  hundreds  of 
pigeons  and  other  birds. 

Descending  from  the  ridge,  we  come,  in  a  few  minutes'  ride 
southward,  to  the  first  group  of  the  ruins  that  are  scattered  over 
the  plain.2  They  form  the  remains  of  a  solid  square  building 
which  must  have  been  more  than  forty  feet  high,  but  only  one 
of  its  shattered  walls  is  standing.  The  natives  conveniently 
call  it  '  Solomon's  Prison '  (Zinddn-i  Suleiman)  ;  Dieulafoy 


1  Compare  the  accounts  of  the  battle  position  of  the  ruins,  see  Flandin  and 
given  by  Nicolaus    Damascenus  and  Coste,    Voyage    en    Perse,    Ancienne, 
Polyaenus,  cited    by    Gilmore,   Frag-  4.  pi.  194  (reproduced  in  Perrot  and 
ments  of  Ktesias,  pp.  115-128.  Chipiez,  Histoire  de  VArt,  5.  596). 

2  For  an  outline  map  showing  the 


THE  APPROACH  TO  THE  RUINS  281 

believes  that  it  was  the  Tomb  of  Cambyses,  the  father  of 
Cyrus  ;  Curzon  agrees  that  it  was  a  sepulchre,  even  if  he  does 
not  go  so  far  as  to  assign  it  definitely  to  the  father  of  Cyrus. 
All  scholars  unite  on  one  point,  in  comparing  it  with  a  similar 
edifice  near  the  tombs  of  the  kings  at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  and  I 
believe  that  most  of  them  are  correct  in  supporting  the  view 
that  the  edifice  was  an  Achaemenian  shrine  of  fire,  as  I  shall 
maintain  in  the  next  chapter.1  But  scarcely  a  stone  of  the 
only  wall  that  survives  is  in  its  exact  position  to  tell  the  story 
of  the  past.  The  present  dilapidation  of  the  building,  the  hard, 
cold  whiteness  of  the  stone,  and  the  contrast  which  it  showed 
to  the  soft  green  of  April  that  freshly  decked  the  plain,  as  it 
does  ever  anew,  made  a  vivid  impression  upon  me. 

Several  hundred  yards  farther  southward  is  a  solitary  shaft, 
nearly  twenty  feet  high  and  broken  at  the  top.  It  is  com- 
posed of  three  blocks,  as  shown  by  my  photograph,  and  looks 
as  if  it  might  have  formed  part  of  a  doorway.  Near  the  sum- 
mit of  this  column  are  carved  in  cuneiform  script,  in  three 
languages,  the  simple  but  dignified  words,  'I  am  Cyrus,  the 
King,  the  Achsemenian  —  ADAM  KURUSH  KHSHAYATHIYA 
HAKHAMANISHIYA.'  The  same  device  is  repeated  on  the 
angle-piers  of  a  ruined  edifice  or  court  several  hundred  yards 
farther  to  the  southeast,  and  it  once  decorated  the  top  of  a  high 
round  column  within  this  enclosure,  but  in  the  latter  case  the 
inscription  has  disappeared,  and  the  whole  structure  is  in  utter 
ruin.  The  like  is  true  of  a  fourth  collection  of  ruins  still  far- 
ther to  the  east- southeast  on  a  raised  flooring  of  white  stone 
sustaining  the  pedestals  of  former  columns  and  bases  of  ruined 
doorways.2  But  to  these  I  paid  less  attention,  because  my 

1  See  p.  302,  below,   and  compare  2  All  the  ruins  have  been  so  well 

Justi,   Grundr.  iran.   Philol.  2.   422.  described  by  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  71-75, 

For  the  view  that  the  edifice  was  a  with  measurements  and  observations 

tomb,  see   Dieulafoy,  L'Art  Antique  regarding  their  position  and  state  of 

de  la  Perse,  1.   14-21,  cf.  also  pi.  5;  preservation,   that    I   have  contented 

and  for  a  summary  of  the   opposing  myself  with   a  brief   outline  without 

theories  consult  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  73.  elaborating  the  notes  I  made  on  the 


282  PASARGAD^E  AND    THE    TOMB    OF   CYRUS 

thoughts  were  riveted  upon  a  monolith  standing  alone  in  the 
plain  some  distance  to  the  east  of  the  circular  column  and 
paved  court  that  I  have  mentioned.  I  had  long  known  about 
it  and  had  always  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  I  should 
see  it. 

This  impressive  monument  is  a  huge  slab,  over  twelve  feet 
high,  five  feet  broad,  and  about  two  feet  in  thickness.  Upon 
its  weathered  front  is  carved  in  low  relief  the  figure  of  a  king. 
On  his  head  there  rests  a  curious  crown  which  shows  traces  of 
the  influence  of  Egyptian  art;  but  the  most  striking  feature 
of  the  image  is  a  double  set  of  immense  vanlike  wings  that  rise 
from  the  shoulders  and  droop  almost  to  the  feet.1  The  sculp- 
tured form  is  the  very  idealization  of  sovereignty.  The  top 
of  the  monolith,  which  once  was  inscribed,  is  broken  off,  but 
the  missing  device,  as  we  know  from  the  drawings  of  the  earlier 
travellers,  consisted  of  the  simple  words, '  I  am  Cyrus,  the  King, 
the  Achsemenian '  —  in  keeping  with  the  dignity  of  the  sur- 
roundings.2 

spot,  except  where  I  could  add  some-  the  fact  that  they  prove  that  the  face 

thing  new.  of  the  king  is  slightly  turned  toward 

1  For  a  good  description  of  the  bas-  the  spectator,  as  both  eyes  apparently 
relief  as  it  appeared  almost  a  hundred  are  shown.      The  head  is  not  there- 
years  ago,  see  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  1.  fore    in    profile    as  all  the  drawings 
492-496.  (including    those    from    Ker   Porter, 

2  The  inscription  is  clearly  drawn  in  op.   cit.   pi.    13,  to  Dieulafoy,  IS  Art 
the  sketch  made  in  the  last  century  by  Antique,  1.  pi.  17)   represent  it.     In 
Ker  Porter,    Travels,  1.   492,  pi.  13,  addition  to  this  I  do  not  believe  that 
and  is  seen  in  other  early  pictures.  Dieulafoy  is  justified  in  representing 
( For  references  compare  Justi,  Grundr.  the    figure    as    holding    some    object 
iran.  Philol.  2.  422.)    I  looked  in  vain  in  the  hand  ;    a  careful  study  of  en- 
for  some  trace  of  the  broken  piece  that  largements    of    my    best    photograph 
held  it.    There  was  a  stone  lying  some  convince   me    that    Ker   Porter    was 
fifty  feet  to  the  southeast,  but,  although  right  in   regarding  the  hand  simply 
it  showed  some  chisel  marks,  it  did  not  as  raised  (like  the  hand  of  Darius  at 
appear  to  match  the  capstone  of  the  Behistan  and   Naksh-i   Rustam)  and 
monument.       The    two    photographs  that     Dieulafoy    has    mistaken    the 
which  I  took   (one  of  which  is  here  feather-tips  of  the  smaller  wing  for 
reproduced)  are  interesting  not  alone  an  instrument  grasped  in  the  hand  of 
because  they  show  the  present  condi-  the  king. 

tion  of  the  bas-relief,  but  also  from 


I,  CYRUS,  THE  KING,  THE  ACH^MENIAN 


THE  SCULPTURED   MONOLITH  OF   CYRUS  283 

I  remounted  my  horse  and,  followed  by  Safar  and  the  guides, 
turned  his  bridle  in  the  direction  of  the  lonely  mausoleum  that 
forms  the  principal  object  in  the  plain.  To  reach  the  road 
that  leads  to  it,  I  had  to  ride  nearly  a  mile  west  and  southwest 
over  fields  freshly  turned  up  by  plows  of  the  primitive  Jainshid 
type.1  In  Persia  one  has  little  hesitation  about  riding  over 
newly  sown  ground,  for  a  drop  of  water  from  the  irrigation 
trenches  quickly  restores  each  trampled  blade.  My  thoughts 
were  centred  only  upon  the  massive  stone  structure  in  the 
distance,  which  looked  towerlike  enough  to  merit  the  name 
ptirgos  applied  to  it  by  Strabo.2 

I  had  long  been  interested  in  the  accounts  which  the  Greek 
and  Latin  authors  have  given  of  the  death  of  Cyrus,  and  in 
their  descriptions  of  his  tomb.  I  had  devoted  considerable 
time  some  years  before  to  investigating  the  mooted  question 
whether  this  4  Grave  of  Solomon's  Mother/  or  '  Mosque  of  the 
Mother  of  Solomon,'  as  the  natives  call  it,  was  actually  the 
vault  of  the  great  king.3  After  a  careful  and  unbiased  study 
of  the  classical  testimony  on  the  subject  and  a  thorough  exam- 
ination, on  three  different  occasions,  both  of  the  site  and  the 
building  itself,  I  became  convinced  that  no  doubt  should  be 
entertained  on  the  subject,  and  that  we  should  accept  the  gen- 
erally current  view  that  it  is  the  authentic  tomb  of  the  founder 
of  the  Achsemenian  dynasty.  I  shall  briefly  present  the  main 
facts  that  lead  to  this  conclusion,  and  then  describe  the  sepulchre 
itself.4 

1  Cf .  pp.  85-86,  246,  above.  pendently  of  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  75-90. 

2  Strabo,  Geographia,  15. 3-7:  irtpyov  On    completing    my  investigations    I 
ov  /j^yav.  found  that  he   had  covered  the  field 

3  The     Persian     designations     are  so  thoroughly  and  come  to  the  same 
Kabr-i  Mddar-i  Suleiman  and  Masjid-i  results,   that  I  could  confine  myself 
Mddar-i    Suleiman.      For    traditions  largely  to   the    main    points,   adding 
referring  to  the  tomb  as  the  burial-  comments  wherever  it  seemed  neces- 
place  of  a  woman,  see  Curzon,  Persia,  sary.     I    may  remark,  for  example, 
2.  78,  84.  that  Curzon,  op.  cit.  p.  78,  correctly 

4  I  made  my  studies  of  the  classical  assigns  the  first  real  identification  of 
writers  on  the  subject  wholly  inde-  the  tomb  to  Ker  Porter  (1818),  Travels, 


284  PASARGAD^E  AND    THE   TOMB    OF   CYRUS 

In  the  first  place  I  may  speak  of  the  death  of  Cyrus. 
According  to  Herodotus,  who  wrote  less  than  a  century  after 
the  event,  Cyrus  met  with  defeat  and  death  at  the  hands  of  the 
Scythian  hordes  led  by  Tomyris,  queen  of  the  MassagetsB, 
about  the  year  B.C.  530,  and  the  victress  thrust  his  severed 
head  into  a  wine-skin  filled  with  human  blood  and  bade  him 
glut  to  the  full  his  thirst  for  gore.1  The  Father  of  History 
adds  that  this  is  only  one  of  several  accounts  of  Cyrus's  death, 
but  the  one  which  seemed  to  him  nearest  the  truth.  The  same 
story  in  an  abridged  form,  but  drawn  evidently  from  Herodotus, 
is  repeated  in  the  first  century  B.C.  by  Diodorus  Siculus,  who 
states,  however,  that  the  Amazon  caused  the  vanquished  king 
to  be  impaled.2  The  narrative,  with  the  details  as  in  Herod- 
otus, is  repeated  by  Justinus  (c.  A.D.  150)  in  his  epitome  of 
the  history  of  Pompeius  Trogus,  and  briefly  sketched  by  Polyse- 
nus  (c.  A.D.  163). 3>  The  early  historian  Berosus  (c.  B.C.  280) 
says  that  Cyrus  perished  'in  the  plain  of  the  Dahse.'4  The 
still  earlier  authority  Ctesias  (c.  B.C.  400),  who  knew  Persian 
traditions  well,  states  that  Cyrus  was  mortally  wounded  in 
battle  against  the  foreign  hosts  of  the  Derbicse  (apparently 
somewhere  in  the  east  of  Iran),  and  died  three  days  afterward, 
and  his  body  was  conveyed  to  Persia  by  his  son  Cambyses.5 
Less  confidence  may  be  placed  in  Xenophon's  historical  novel, 
the  Cyropaedia,  which  depicts  Cyrus  as  passing  away  at  a 
good  old  age  among  sorrowing  friends,  to  whom  he  imparts 

1.    502-508,    but    Pietro    della   Valle  torica,  2.  44  (Tauchnitz  edition). 

( Viaggi,  2.  276  ;  Travels,  ed.  Pinker-  8  See    Justinus,    Historiae    Philip- 

ton,  9.   112)  was  on  the  right  track  picae,  1.  8.  11-13;  Polyaenus,  Strata- 

when  he  wrote,  under  the  date  July  gemata,  8.  28. 

22,  1622,  that  he  arrived  at  two  o'clock  4  Berosus,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  ed. 

in  the  morning  at  the  site  of  the  an-  Schone,  1.  30,  cf.  Miiller,  Fragmenta 

cient   'Passargada,    where,  according  Historicorum    Graecorum,   2.    605  a, 

to  Pliny  and  Quintus  Curtius,  was  the  Paris,  1848.    See  also  Justi,   Grundr. 

place  of  sepulture  of  Cyrus  the  Great.'  iran.    Philol.    2.   421,    and    Gilmore, 

1  Herodotus    (B.C.   484-408),    His-  Fragments  of  Ktesias,  p.  136,  n. 
tory,  1.  201-214.  &  Ctesias,  Fragments,  29   (38-40), 

2  Diodorus  Siculus,  Bibliotheca  His-  ed.  Gilmore,  pp.  136-137. 


THE  DEATH  OF   CYRUS  285 

the  sagest  counsels  and  whom  he  urges  to  commit  his  body  to 
the  ground  in  the  simplest  manner  possible.1  Cyrus  was  about 
seventy-one  years  old,  and  the  year  of  his  death  is  placed 
at  B.C.  580.  On  the  whole  Ctesias's  account  of  the  event 
may  be  regarded  as  the  most  trustworthy,  if  compared  also 
with  the  statements  of  Arrain,  Strabo,  Pliny,  Quintus  Curtius, 
and  Plutarch  regarding  the  tomb.2  From  the  statements  of 
these  writers,  which  I  shall  next  give,  we  may  accept  it  as  a 
fact  that  the  body  of  Cyrus  was  laid  to  rest  here  at  Pasargadse, 
and  it  is  not  impossible  that  it  was  first  coated  with  wax  in  the 
custom  of  the  Persians,  or  perhaps  embalmed  after  the  manner 
of  the  Egyptians.3 

Arriaii,  the  Greek  historian  who  lived  early  in  the  second 
century  of  the  Christian  era  and  drew  material  from  the  writ- 
ings of  Aristobulus,  who  accompanied  Alexander  the  Great 
on  his  Eastern  Campaign,  gives  an  excellent  description  of  the 
tomb  of  Cyrus  and  of  the  visit  which  Alexander  paid  to  it.4  He 
describes  the  mausoleum  as  standing  in  the  midst  of  a  park 
surrounded  by  a  grove  and  rich  meadows  of  grass.  The  tomb 
itself  stood  on  a  rectangular  base  of  stone  and  the  sepulchre 
is  described  as  '  a  stone  house,5  roofed  over,  and  having  a  door 
so  small  as  to  be  difficult  to  enter  even  for  a  man  of  no  large 
stature.'  In  this  4  house'  the  body  of  Cyrus  was  laid  in  a 

1  Xenophon,  Cyropaedia,  8.  7.  1-28.  in  the  next  chapter,  may  be  consulted. 
There    is    a   suggestion  of    a  dying-  For  the  suggestion  regarding  embalm- 
speech    also     in    Ctesias,  Fragments,  ing,  see  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  80,  n.  1. 
29  (39).  *  Arrian,  Anabasis,  6.  29.  4-11.     A 

2  See  also  Katz,  Cyrus  des  Perser-  version  of  the  passage  may  be  found 
konigs     Abstammung,     Kriege     und  in  Curzon  (Persia,  2.  79-80),  and  for 
Tod,    pp.    36-42,    Klagenfurt,    1895 ;  that  reason  I  merely  paraphrase  the 
and    compare    Justi,    Grundr.    iran.  contents,   adding    the    original  Greek 
PhiloL  2.  421,  n.  3.  wherever  it    seems    necessary.      For 

8  I  have  referred  elsewhere  to  the  another  rendering  of  the  original,  see 

statement  of  Herodotus  (1.  140)  that  Anabasis    of  Alexander  and  Indica, 

the  Persians  coated  the  bodies  of  their  translated  by  E.  J.  Chinnock,  pp.  340- 

dead  with  wax  before  interring  them.  341,  London,  1893. 
The  remarks  upon  the  tombs  of  Darius  6  Gk.  ofroj^a  \idtvov. 

and  those  of  the  later  Achsemenians, 


286  PASARGADsE  AND    THE    TOMB    OF   CYRUS 

'  golden  coffin ' l  that  rested  '  upon  (or  beside)  a  couch,  the 
feet  of  which  were  of  hammered  gold.' 2  Under  this  catafalque 
carpets  of  royal  purple  were  spread,  and  over  it  was  laid  a 
covering  of  Babylonian  tapestry,  while  around  it  were  lying 
rich  vestments  of  purple  and  other  colors,  costly  jewels  and 
precious  stones,  placed  doubtless  on  the  '  table,'  which  is  also 
mentioned.3  When  Alexander  visited  the  tomb,  he  found  that 
it  had  been  rifled  of  its  treasures,  the  body  had  been  thrown 
out  of  the  coffin,  which  was  broken  and  battered,  for  the 
plunderers  found  it  too  heavy  to  drag  with  them,  and  only 
the  casket  and  catafalque  remained.4  On  discovering  the  out- 
rage Alexander  gave  orders  that  the  body  should  be  replaced 
in  the  coffin  and  that  everything  should  be  restored  to  its 
former  condition.  He  obliterated  the  doorway,  closed  up  the 
entrance  with  a  stone,  cemented  it  with  mortar,  and  sealed  it 
with  his  own  signet.5 

The  account  of  Strabo  (c.  B.C.  30)  is  substantially  the 
same,  bat  somewhat  less  detailed  ;  he  calls  the  building  '  a 
tower  of  no  great  size,'  and  adds,  on  the  authority  of  Onesi- 
critus,  who  was  with  Alexander,  that  this  tower  had  'ten 
tiers,  or  stages,'  and  the  body  of  Cyrus  lay  in  the  '  upper- 
most stage,'  an  allusion  evidently  to  the  terraced  courses  and 
plinth  on  which  the  mausoleum  stands.6  Plutarch  (about  A.D. 
50),  like  his  two  predecessors,  speaks  of  the  inscription  which 

1  Gk.  irve\ov  xpwijv.  the   COUCh '    (TT\T)V  TTJS   irvt\ov   Kal  TTJS 

2  The  Greek  words  literally  mean      jcXfpip) . 

that  the  couch  stood  '  beside  the  coffin '  5  Gk.  rb  vrweiov  rb  f3a(ri\iK6i>. 

(K\IVTJV   Trapi  ry   True'Xy),    whereas  a  6  Strabo,   Geographia,  15.    3.  7,  8, 

statement  that  follows  seems  to  imply  -n-vpyos  and  rbv  ntv  irvpyov  8ei<d<rTeyoj> 

that  the  allusion  is  to  a  catafalque  .  .  .  r^  avwrdTw  <rrtyri.    Compare  also 

'  upon  which  (lit.  '  in  the  midst  of  the  Falconer's  translation   of    Strabo,   3. 

couch')  rested  the  coffin  that  contained  133-134,    Bonn's    Classical    Library, 

the  body  of  Cyrus'  (iv  /dry  8t  rfc  London,    1857.        The    idea    of    the 

K\tm)$  i)  TTI>€\OS  fKeiro  ?/   rt>  ffd^a.  Tov  '  tower '  appears  again  in  the  Latin  ver- 

Kvpov  %x°v*a}-  sion  of  Callisthenes  made  in  the  third 

8  Gk.  Kal  rpdirefa  l/ceiro.  century  A.D.  by  Julius  Valerius,  who 

4  Lit.  '  he  found  that  everything  had  uses  the  term  turris  in  his  Alexandra 

been  carried  off  except  the  coffin  and  Polemi,  2.  29.  18  (Teubner  edition). 


CLASSIC  DESCRIPTIONS   OF   THE    TOMB  287 

Cyrus  had  bidden  to  be  placed  on  the  tomb,  and  states  that 
the  name  of  the  ghoul  who  had  desecrated  the  vault  was 
Polymachus.1  The  later  and  less  trustworthy  Quintus  Curtius, 
on  the  other  hand,  says  that  Alexander  was  disappointed  at 
finding  Cyrus  simply  interred  with  his  shield,  two  Scythian 
bows,  and  a  sword,  and  not  with  silver  and  gold,  as  was  re- 
ported; whereupon  the  Macedonian  placed  a  golden  crown 
upon  the  coffin  and  covered  the  sarcophagus  with  his  own 
rich  cloak.2  The  incidental  statement  of  Pliny  the  Elder 
(d.  A.D.  79)  adds  information  that  is  important  both  for  the 
identification  of  the  tomb  and  its  site,  when  he  says :  '  The 
Magi  hold  the  fortress  of  Pasargadse,  in  which  is  the  tomb  of 
Cyrus.'3  The  allusion  is  in  harmony,  moreover,  with  Arriaii 
and  Strabo,  who  say  that  the  Magians  were  the  hereditary 
guardians  of  the  tomb,  dwelling  near  it  and  offering  a  sheep 
every  day  and  a  horse  each  month  as  a  sacrifice.4 

As  we  ride  nearer  to  the  sepulchre  the  details  of  the  classic 
descriptions  become  even  more  clear.  The  structure,  which 
in  the  distance  might  be  spoken  of  as  a  purgos,  now  looks 
like  4a  house  of  stone,  roofed  over,'  as  Arrian  says,  and  the 
terraced  steps  (though  seven,  not  ten,  in  number)  answer  to 
the  statement  of  Onesicritus  in  Strabo's  account.5  The  door, 
which  faces  west,  or  rather  northwest,  is  strikingly  small,  and 
around  the  tornb  there  are  the  remains  of  what  was  once  a 
colonnade  that  formed  a  rectangular  enclosure  around  the 
tomb.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  pillars  which,  though 
broken,  show  where  the  entrances  must  have  been,  most  of 
the  columns  have  disappeared  or  lie  tumbled  about  in  confusion 
upon  the  ground.6  A  score  of  Mohammedan  graves  have 
been  crowded  within  the  area  next  to  the  tomb  so  as  to  be  as 

1  Plutarch,  Alexander,  69.  1-2.  Geographia,  15.  3.  7  (the  latter  says 

2  Quintus  Curtius,  Hist.  Alex.  10.  1.  they  'received  '  these  animals). 
30-32.  6  On  this  subject,  see  also  Curzon, 

3  Pliny,  Historia  Naturalis,  6.  26.  Persia,  2.  82. 

29,  116.  °  Ker  Porter,   Travels,    1.  499,  re- 

4  Arrian,  Anabasis,  6.  29.  7 ;  Strabo,      ported  seventeen  columns  as '  still  erect, 


288  PASARGAD^E  AND    THE    TOMB    OF   CYRUS 

close  as  possible  to  this  shrine  of  'Solomon's  Mother.'  In 
further  confirmation  of  Arrian's  statement  concerning  4  a  small 
house  for  the  Magi  who  guarded  the  tomb  of  Cyrus,' l  we  find, 
about  a  hundred  yards  north  of  the  mausoleum,  the  foundation 
of  a  building  which  may  have  been  at  the  same  time  a  sanctu- 
ary and  a  residence  for  the  priests;  but  practically  nothing 
remains  of  the  structure  except  the  base  upon  which  it  stood, 
and  this  is  now  partly  buried  by  a  mass  of  wretched  hovels.2 

From  a  distance  the  tomb  of  C}^rus  looks  dwarfed  by  the 
vastness  of  the  surrounding  plain,  but  when  viewed  near-by,  its 
true  size  becomes  apparent,  and  the  nobility  of  its  lines,  the 
symmetry  of  its  proportions,  and  the  striking  whiteness  of  the 
marblelike  stone  of  which  it  is  constructed,  come  out  in  full 
effect.  It  stands  high  upon  a  terraced  base,  seven  steps  of 
which  are  now  visible,  and  the  stones  which  compose  both  the 
substructure  and  the  tomb  are  very  massive.  The  lowest 
stage  of  the  seven  terraced  steps  is  a  plinth  over  two  feet  high, 
nearly  fifty  feet  long,  and  more  than  forty  feet  broad.3  Each 
of  the  other  stages  above  this  flooring  is  proportionately  smaller 
in  area,  but  not  in  height,  and  the  combined  elevation  of  the 
pedestal  thus  formed  is  more  than  sixteen  feet.  The  mauso- 
leum itself  is  about  eighteen  feet  high,  the  point  of  its  roof 
being  nearly  thirty-five  feet  from  the  ground  ;  the  length  of  the 
building  is  about  twenty  feet  and  its  width  seventeen  feet. 
I  give  the  more  precise  measurements  in  metres  below,  as  I 
took  them  with  considerable  care.4 

but  heaped  round  with  rubbish  and  8  In    Ker    Porter's    time  this   was 

barbarously  connected  with  a  wall  of  almost  covered,  so  that  he  calls  it  a 

mud.'     Each  generation  will  find  less  'sort  of    skirting-stone'    and   counts 

to  record.     For  a  theoretical  restora-  only  six  steps  (Travels,  1.  499;   and 

tion  of  the  colonnade,  see  Dieulafoy,  cf.  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  77,  n.  1).   Exca- 

V 'Art  Antique,  1.  pi.  18,  and  compare  vation  might  perhaps  reveal  the  '  ten 

Perrot  and  Chipiez,  Histoire  de  VArt,  steps'  of  Onesicritus. 

6.  698.  *  The   plinth,  as  nearly  as  I  could 

1  Arrian,  Anabasis,  6.  29.  7.  measure  it,  is  13.50  m.  long,  12.20  m. 

2  For    a    picture,    see    Stolze    and  broad,  and   .70  m.  high.      The  next 
Andreas,  Persepolis,  2.  pi.  130.  stage  is  also  .70  m.  high ;  the  third, 


THE    QUESTION   OF  AN  INSCRIPTION  289 

The  mammoth  blocks  which  make  up  the  tomb  and  base  alike 
are  set  together  with  the  utmost  precision.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence of  the  use  of  mortar,  but  iron  clamps  were  employed  in 
uniting  the  masonry,  as  I  afterward  learned  from  Mr.  J.  R. 
Preece,  British  Consul  at  Isfahan,  who  informed  me  that  some 
years  ago  a  friend  of  his  actually  found  in  situ,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  tomb,  one  of  these  great  clasps  binding  two  blocks  to- 
gether. Nature  has  added  to  her  destructive  forces  an  extra 
one  :  several  bushes  of  the  evergreen  type  have  taken  root  in 
the  interstices  worn  between  the  great  stones  of  the  terraced 
steps,  and  a  small  tree  has  sprouted  out  from  the  roof ;  both  of 
these  agents,  as  time  goes  on,  will  take  part  in  bringing  about 
the  general  ruin  of  the  monument. 

It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  an  inscription  of  some  sort 
adorned  this  resting-place  of  the  mighty  dead,  and  we  have 
the  authority  of  the  Greek  writers  for  asserting  that  there 
was  such  an  epitaph.  Both  Arrian  and  Strabo  say  that  Aris- 
tobulus,  who  was  appointed  by  Alexander  to  restore  the  tomb 
after  it  had  been  desecrated,  mentions  a  Persian  inscription,  to 
this  effect : l  — 

O  MAN,  I  AM  CYRUS,  THE  SON  OF  CAMBYSES,  WHO 
FOUNDED  THE  PERSIAN  EMPIRE  AND  WAS  KING  OF 
ASIA.  GRUDGE  ME  NOT  THEREFORE  THIS  MONU- 
MENT. 

Strabo,  after  repeating  this  epitaph,  which  he  says  Aristobu- 
lus  quoted  from  memory,  adds  that  Onesicritus  says  'the  in- 
scription was  in  Greek,  engraved  in  Persian  characters  .  .  . 
and  there  was  another  in  Persian  of  the  same  import ' : 2  — 

I,   CYRUS,    KING   OF   KINGS,   LIE   HERE. 

1.02  m.;  the  fourth,  also  1.02  m.  ;  the  total  height  of  about  11  m.  above  the 

fifth,  .53  m.  ;  the  sixth,  .54  m.  ;  the  level  of  the  ground. 

seventh,    .53    m.      The    sepulchre    is          l  Arrian,  Anabasis,  6.  29.  8. 

6.24  m.  long  on  the  outside;  5.26  m.  2  The  Greek  words  form  a  hexameter 

broad ;   and  about  6   m.    high  to  the  line :  'Ev0d8'  ^yd>  KeT/j.at  \  Kupoj  pa<ri\efo 

top  of  the  pointed  roof,  which  has  a  /SatrtX^wv  —  Strabo,  Geog.  15.  3.  7. 


290  PASARGAD^E  AND    THE   TOMB   OF   CYRUS 

Plutarch  has  a  statement  to  the  same  effect,  and  relates  that 
when  Alexander  found  the  tomb  violated  by  Polymachus  and 
read  the  epitaph,  he  ordered  the  inscription  to  be  engraved  in 
Greek  letters  underneath,  and  it  read  as  follows  : 1 — 

O  MAN,  WHOSOEVER  THOU  ART,  AND  WHENCE- 
SOEVER  THOU  COMEST  (FOR  I  KNOW  THOU  WILT 
COME),  I  AM  CYRUS,  WHO  FOUNDED  THE  EMPIRE 
OF  THE  PERSIANS.  GRUDGE  ME  NOT  THEREFORE 
THIS  LITTLE  EARTH  THAT  COVERS  MY  BODY. 

The  tone  of  the  inscriptions  sounds  genuine,  especially  in  the 
combination  of  proud  glory  and  deep  humility,  and  the  brief 
line  given  by  Onesicritus  —  i,  CYRUS,  KING  OF  KINGS,  LIE 
HERE  —  would  answer  admirably  to  a  presumable  Persian 
inscription  ADAM  KURUSH  KHSHAYATHIYA  KHSHAYATHIY- 
ANAM,  4 1,  Cyrus,  King  of  Kings,  (lie  here),'  with  the  customary 
omission  of  the  verb,  which  Onesicritus  would  naturally  supply, 
even  if  the  authenticity  of  the  version  be  questioned  because  the 
Greek  words  form  a  hexameter.  A  single  glance  at  the  fagade 
of  the  tomb  shows  a  large  stone  over  the  doorway,  which  looks 
as  if  designed  for  holding  an  epitaph,  but  I  could  not  find  a  trace 
of  a  letter  upon  it,  though  I  examined  it  with  care,  nor  do  any 
characters  appear  in  the  photographs  which  I  took.  But  the 
original  letters  may  have  been  destroyed,  or  possibly  they 
were  carved  on  tablets  attached  to  the  wall,  as  seems  likely 
if  we  notice  the  holes  on  each  side  of  this  slab  over  the 
entrance.  In  fact  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  existence  of 
an  inscription  when  Aristobulus  and  Onesicritus  visited  the 
tomb  with  Alexander,  any  more  than  we  might  now  argue  that 
the  bas-relief  of  Cyrus  never  had  an  inscription,  because  one 
no  longer  exists,  although  there  was  one  less  than  a  hundred 
years  ago. 

The  entrance  to  the  tomb  is  low  and  narrow,  as  the  Greek 
authorities  state.  The  height  of  the  doorway  is  only  4  ft. 
1  Plutarch,  Alexander,  69.  2. 


THE  INTERIOR   OF   THE  SEPULCHRE  291 

2  in.  and  its  width  2  ft.  7£  in.,1  and  it  is  necessary  to 
crouch  in  order  to  pass  through,  as  Arrian  affirmed.  The 
original  door  to  the  vault  was  probably  a  heavy  stone  swing- 
ing on  pivots,  such  as  may  be  seen  at  the  supposed  tomb  of 
Esther  and  Mordecai  at  Hamadan  and  also  in  the  square  monu- 
ment at  Naksh-i  Rustam,2  but  I  do  not  recall  seeing  the  socket- 
holes,  as  in  those  cases.  Dieulafoy's  ingenious  suggestion  of 
two  doors,  an  outer  and  an  inner  door,  so  arranged  as  to  open 
upon  each  other,  but  not  both  at  the  same  time,  seems  plaus- 
ible 3  ;  and  even  if  the  original  means  of  closure  have  long 
since  disappeared,  there  are  actually  to  be  seen  two  rickety 
wooden  doors  which  guard  the  ingress,  as  the  thickness  of  the 
wall  allows  space  for  two.  But  the  second  of  these  wretched 
board  structures  was  off  its  hinges,  when  I  visited  the  tomb, 
and  was  lying  in  one  corner  of  the  vault. 

Crawling  through  the  low  entrance,  without  having  the  slight- 
est objection  raised  by  the  bystanders,  who  I  thought  might 
prevent  me,  I  found  myself  within  the  chamber  where  death 
had  held  his  court.  The  room  is  10  ft.  5|  in.  long,  and  7  ft. 
7  in.  wide,  and  7  ft.  11J  in.  high.4  Two  enormous  blocks  that 
look  like  marble  form  the  floor,  and  the  side  walls  and  flat  ceil- 
ing are  composed  of  stones  equally  large.  In  one  part  of  the 
eastern  wall,  facing  the  doorway,  there  is  a  great  gaping  chink, 
and  the  block  of  the  floor  at  the  same  end  shows  a  rough  sort 
of  depression  which  suggests  the  idea  that  something  had  been 
scooped  out  or  forcibly  wrenched  away,  perhaps  by  robber 
hands.  It  may  have  been  that  the  sarcophagus  stood  here.5  I 
could  picture  its  position  and  I  lay  down  to  measure  my  length 

1  The  dimensions  in  centimeters  as  4  The  measurements  as  I  took  them 

1  took  them  are:    height,  126  cm.;      in  meters  are :  length,  3.18  m.;  width, 
width,  80  cm.    Curzon  gives  4  ft.  3  in.       2.30  m.  ;    height,  2.12  m.     They  are 
by  2  ft.  3  in.  ;   Ker  Porter,  4  ft.  by      practically  the  same  as  Curzon's,  who 

2  ft.  10  in.  gives:  length,  10  ft.  5  in.;  width,  7  ft. 

2  See  p.  168,  and  note  2,  above.  6  in. ;  height,  6  ft.  10  in. 

3  See  Dieulafoy,  V Art  Antique,  1.  6  See  Arrian's  description,  p.  286, 
48,  fig.  54.  above. 


292  PASARGAD^E  AND    THE   TOMB    OF   CYRUS 

near  the  depression  in  order  to  determine  whether  the  space 
were  in  proportion  to  a  human  form.  I  found  there  would 
indeed  have  been  room  enough,  and  space  besides  for  the  table 
or  couch  holding  the  purple  vestments,  the  sword,  and  the  other 
regal  insignia  which  Arrian  and  Strabo  enumerate. 

The  condition  of  the  royal  chamber  is  not  what  it  once  was. 
The  wall  to  the  right,  or  on  the  south  side,  has  been  desecrated 
by  a  modern  Persian  inscription  and  verses  from  the  Koran. 
They  are  handsomely  carved,  it  is  true,  and  are  surrounded  by 
an  ornamental  border  shaped  like  a  prayer-niche,  but  they  are 
out  of  place  in  the  tomb  of  Cyrus.  Innumerable  graffiti, 
scratched  by  Orientals  with  the  scribbling  craze,  cover  the 
walls.  One  of  the  names  was  in  Pahlavi  characters  and  inter- 
ested me,  as  it  was  that  of  a  Zoroastrian  priest,  Mobed  Ormaz- 
dyar  Bahram.  As  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  race  of  the  Magi 
he  had  more  right  perhaps  than  the  others  to  carve  his  name  in 
the  tomb,  for  the  Magi  were  the  traditional  guardians  of  the 
tomb  of  Cyrus.  A  worn  copy  of  the  Koran  lay  upon  the  floor, 
and  the  wind  sweeping  through  the  vault  turned  its  pages. 
A  manuscript  of  the  Avesta  would  have  been  more  appropriate 
in  this  chamber.  But  most  inharmonious  of  all,  for  it  hung 
over  the  place  where  the  body  must  have  lain,  was  a  cord  with 
an  incongruous  collection  of  worthless  trash  in  the  way  of 
votive  offerings.  A  piece  of  rag,  a  bit  of  brass,  a  fragment  of 
a  lamp,  a  bell,  a  copper  ring,  and  what  not,  made  up  the  motley 
string.  They  were  the  customary  donations  of  pilgrims  as 
mementos  of  the  journey  or  as  talismans  for  a  safe  return. 

Happily  the  note  so  out  of  tune  with  the  historic  surround- 
ings lasted  only  for  a  moment.  An  instant  later  the  setting 
sun  streamed  through  the  doorway  and  flooded  one  corner  of 
the  dingy  vault  with  a  gorgeous  splendor.  The  image  of  the 
kdvaya  hvarenah,  the  4  Kingly  Glory,'  or  symbol  of  sovereignty 
in  the  Avesta,  flashed  across  my  mind.  In  ancient  times  a 
reflection  of  this  same  divine  light  was  believed  to  shed  a  halo 
about  the  person  of  the  King  of  Kings.  Its  sacred  majesty 


THE   OBSEQUIES    OF   THE  KING  293 

was  shining  this  instant  from  heaven  around  the  tomb  of 
Cyrus  and  made  it  seem  too  hallowed  to  remain.  As  I  slowly 
descended  the  deep  steps  and  mounted  my  horse,  the  sun  sank 
low  behind  the  western  hills.  I  turned  for  a  last  look  at  the 
historic  shrine.  A  vision  seemed  to  rise  before  my  view,  and 
I  saw  in  fancy  the  scene  of  the  last  obsequies  of  the  Great 
King.  From  the  classical  writers  we  know  with  what  pomp 
and  magnificence  the  processions  of  the  Persian  kings  were 
conducted  during  their  lifetime;  the  richly  caparisoned 
horses,  chariots  of  state,  purple  robes,  heavy  accoutrements, 
and  barbaric  splendor  were  always  present  in  gorgeous  pro- 
fusion. With  no  less  pomp,  but  with  greater  solemnity,  must 
the  sorrowing  nation  have  borne  their  dead  hero  to  the  tomb. 
His  body,  not  left  in  Magian  fashion  to  be  torn  by  dogs 
and  birds,  but  covered  with  wax  or  perhaps  embalmed,  was 
laid  in  a  gold-adorned  casket  and  carried  to  the  sepulchre, 
attended  by  the  flower  of  the  Persian  army.  I  still  could  hear 
the  tramplings  of  the  horses  that  led  the  funeral  train ;  the 
measured  tread  of  the  soldiers  in  clanking  armor  rang  dully  on 
my  ear;  the  smoke  of  imagined  incense  rose  heavenward  to 
Auramazda  from  the  huge  urn  holding  the  sacred  fire ;  and 
the  chanting  voice  of  the  Magian  priest  intoning  perchance 
the  Zoroastrian  psalm  Kam  nemoi  zftm  — '  to  what  land  am  I 
going '  —  beat  rhythmically  through  my  brain.  The  Great 
King  Cyrus  was  no  more  !  The  shroud  of  darkness  fell  like  a 
pall  upon  the  plain  and  the  moon  rose  slowly  over  the  distant 
hills. 


CHAPTER  XX 
PERSEPOLIS   AND  ITS  MONUMENTS 

4  Among  the  ruined  temples  there, 
Stupendous  columns,  and  wild  images 
Of  more  than  man,  where  marble  demons  watch 
The  Zodiac's  brazen  mystery,  and  dead  men 
Hang  their  mute  thoughts  on  the  mute  walls  around.' 

—  SHELLEY,  Alastor,  116-120. 

THE  scene  now  shifts  from  Pasargadse  to  Persepolis,  the 
royal  seat  of  Darius,  Xerxes,  Artaxerxes,  and  their  successors, 
who  bore  in  turn  the  title  4  King  of  Kings,'  having  inherited 
the  throne  of  Cyrus  through  a  side  line,  as  his  son  Cambyses 
had  died  childless.1  These  monarchs  located  their  capital 
some  forty  miles  south  of  Cyrus's  city,  at  the  site  now 
marked  by  the  great  platform  of  Takht-i  Jamshid  and  the 
ruins  of  the  city  of  Stakhra,  as  well  as  perpetuated  by  their 
tombs  at  Naksh-i  Rustam.  The  new  capital  may  have  been 
called  Pdrsa-karta,  '  City  of  the  Persians,'  like  the  older  Pasar- 
gadee,  for  the  Greeks  appear  simply  to  be  paraphrasing  the  name 
when  they  refer  to  the  city  as  Perse-polish  It  is  not  improb- 
able, moreover,  that  the  name  Stakhra,  4  Strong,'  still  preserved 
among  the  natives  as  Stakhr  or  Istakhr,  and  which  we  can 


1  See  pp.  26,  180,  above.     The  date  2  The  earliest  occurrence  of 

of    Cambyses's  death  was    B.C.    522.  71-0X1$  in   Greek   appears  to  be  in  the 

Herodotus   (History,  3.  61-66)  states  fifth  century  B.C.,  after  the  Persian 

that  it  occurred  at  the  Syrian  Ecba-  War,  as  we  then  find  the  word  used 

tana  ;  Ctesias  (Fragments,  43-44,  ed.  by  ^Eschylus,  Persians,  65,  apparently 

Gilmore,   pp.   144-145)  says  that  the  with  a  punning  allusion   to  'destroy- 

event  occurred  at  Babylon,  and  adds  ing  (TT^O-IS)    cities   (TnSXts).'      This  I 

that  the  body  was  brought  back  to  Per-  believe  to  be  the  best  interpretation  of 

sia.     Yet  to  this  day  no  man  knows  A  the  passage  in  question. 
the  place  where  Cambyses  is  buried.      () 

294 


I 
^  9 

H     ^ 


w 

II 

I1 

H 

§ 


FROM  PASARGAD^E   TO  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM  295 

trace  back  for  centuries,  if  not  to  Achaemenian  times,  may 
have  designated  the  city  in  the  plain  north  and  west  of  the 
platform,  that  is,  the  abode  of  the  people  in  distinction  from 
the  residence  of  the  kings  on  the  grand  terrace.1  Be  that  as 
it  may,  the  monuments  in  this  vicinity  are  the  most  interesting 
and  historic  in  all  Persia ;  Susa  alone  can  make  any  claim  to 
comparison  with  them. 

To  reach  Persepolis,  we  strike  southward  toward  the  Plain 
of  Mervdasht.  The  road  runs  at  first  through  a  mountain 
gorge,  picturesque  in  wild  scenery,  but  dangerous  at  night 
because  of  its  rugged  track  and  robbers.  The  river  Polvar, 
the  classic  Medus,  pushes  its  way  with  turbulent  stream 
through  the  craggy  defile.  A  part  of  the  road  above  its  rocky 
bed  exhibits  one  of  the  most  remarkable  pieces  of  ancient 
engineering  in  the  Orient.  For  a  considerable  distance, 
through  the  solid  limestone  rock,  a  narrow  causeway  was 
hewn  ages  ago  to  afford,  as  it  still  does,  a  passage  for  cara- 
vans on  their  route  from  the  south  to  the  north  of  Iran,  and 
an  ingress  more  than  once  for  great  armed  forces.  It  is  known 
as  the  Sang -Bur,  4  Rock- Cutting,'  or  the  Tang-i  Buldghi, 
'Water-stream  Pass,'  and  is  thought  by  some  to  be  identical 
with  the  mountain  gorges  of  Vash-Shikuft,  mentioned  in  the 
Bundahishn.2 

1  On    the    problem    of    the    names  2  Bd.  12.  2,  21  ;  so  Justi,  in  Indo- 

Persepolis  and  Istakhr,  compare  Cur-  germanische   Forschungen,  Anzeiger, 

zon,  Persia,  2.  132,  n.  2,  133,148,  187;  17.  106.     For  a  picture  of  the  pass, 

also  Noldeke's  article  on   Persepolis  see  Stolze  and  Andreas,  Persepolis,  2. 

in  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th  ed.,  pi.    127  ;     and    for    descriptions,    cf. 

18.  557-560.      The  Greeks  and  Latins  Curzon,    Persia,    2.    90 ;    Browne,    A 

naturally  did  not  observe  this  distinc-  Year  Amongst  the   Persians,  p.  243. 

tion,  and  we  can  understand  how  the  In  the  opinion  of  Justi  (IF.  Anzeiger, 

Tabula  Peutingeriana  should  in  late  17.  106,  cf.   Grundr.  iran.  Philol.  2. 

Parthian  times  speak  of    '  Persepolis,  425)    it  was   on  a  mountain  in  this 

the    emporium    of    Persia,'    although  vicinity  that   the    Median    pretender 

this  could  only  refer  to  the  city  itself,  Gaumata,    the    False    Smerdis,    first 

because  the  place  had  lost  its  prestige  asserted  his  claim  to  the  sovereignty 

as  a  capital  under  the  Arsacids.    See  of  Persia,  only  to  be  overthrown  by 

Tomaschek,  Zur  historischen  Topogra-  Darius. 
phie  von  Persien,  pp.  166-175. 


296  PERSEPOLIS  AND  ITS  MONUMENTS 

From  the  ravine  we  emerge  into  a  succession  of  valleys 
between  hills  and  cliffs.  At  this  point  my  cavalcade  overtook 
a  band  of  Cossacks  in  the  employ  of  the  Shah.  These  finely 
mounted  horsemen  had  been  sent  down  to  clear  up  the  road 
which  was  infested  with  highwaymen  (rdh-zari),  and  they 
were  not  long  in  finding  an  opportunity  to  exercise  their 
functions.  A  shepherd  came  past  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  com- 
plaining that  he  had  been  robbed  of  a  sheep  by  a  peasant  who 
was  acting  as  'a  guard  of  the  road.'  The  Cossacks  pursued 
the  offender  to  the  hills,  quickly  caught  him,  pinioned  his  arms 
behind  him,  and  marched  him  at  the  rifle's  muzzle  to  the 
nearest  village,  where  punishment,  I  presume  of  the  cruellest 
kind,  was  inflicted  upon  the  culprit. 

At  Sivand,  the  station  beyond,  I  found  no  occasion  to  wait 
for  a  longer  time  than  to  change  horses,  and  then  resumed  the 
trail  near  the  Polvar,  though  I  regret  that  I  missed  seeing  the 
famous  Pahlavi  inscription  in  the  hills  near  the  village  of 
Hajiabad,  some  miles  below  Sivand.  I  have  in  my  possession, 
however,  a  picture  of  the  tablet  taken  by  Mr.  A.  O.  Wood, 
of  the  bank  at  Isfahan,  and  there  is  a  large  photograph  of  the 
inscription  in  Stolze's  work  on  Persepolis,  besides  copies  that 
have  been  made  by  others.1  The  writing  on  the  stone  is  in 
Chaldseo-Pahlavi  and  Sasanian  Pahlavi,  and  it  appears  to  record 
a  remarkable  shot  with  an  arrow  by  King  Shahpur,  or  Sapor  I, 
of  the  House  of  Sasan.2 

The  afternoon  was  considerably  advanced  when  I  reached 
Naksh-i  Rustam  and  the  tombs  of  the  AchaBinenian  kings. 
Here  in  the  face  of  a  long  high  bluff  are  hewn  four  sepulchres 
belonging  to  the  elder  kings  of  the  second  line,  Darius,  Xerxes, 
Artaxerxes  I,  and  Darius  II.  These  rock-cut  vaults  lie  five  or 
six  miles  to  the  north  of  the  great  platform  where  once  stood 

1  See    Stolze    and    Andreas,    Per-  hesh,   pp.    83-84,  Copenhagen,  1851 ; 

sepolis,  2.  pi.  126;  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  cf.  also  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  116. 
1.  613  ;  Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  en          2  See  West,    Grundr.  Iran.   Philol. 

Perse,  Ancienne,  2.  pi.  164  ;  Wester-  2.  77.   (Hajiabad  is  not  to  be  confused 

gaard,  in  the  appendix  to  his  Bunde-  with  the  place  mentioned  on  p.  252.) 


THE  ROYAL    TOMBS  AT  NAKSH-I  RUST  AM  297 

the  palaces  of  the  kings  and  behind  which  are  three  other 
Achsemenian  tombs  of  a  somewhat  later  date. 

The  rocky  cliff  in  which  the  sepulchre  of  Darius  and  those 
of  his  son,  grandson,  and  great-grandson  are  carved,  resembles 
a  jagged  wall,  over  five  hundred  feet  long  and  between  one 
and  two  hundred  feet  high.  It  extends  in  a  generally  easterly 
and  westerly  direction,  but  makes  a  rather  sharp  turn  at  the 
eastern  end,  so  that  we  can  understand  how  Ctesias  came  to 
speak  of  it  as  a  'double  mountain'  —  Sicro-bv  opo?.1  The 
natives  call  it  Husein  Kuh,  '  Hill  of  Husein,'  or  more  often 
Naksh-i  Rustam,  4  Rustam's  Picture,'  from  a  mistaken  idea  that 
the  equestrian  statues  of  the  Sasanian  kings  at  its  base  repre- 
sent Rustam  and  his  famous  charger. 

The  four  tombs  which  are  hewn  in  the  bosom  of  the  rock 
are  practically  of  the  same  size  and  dimensions  and  absolutely 
uniform  in  their  exterior  design.  The  shape  of  each  fagade  is 
roughly  that  of  a  Greek  cross,  some  seventy  feet  high  and 
sixty  feet  wide,2  and  the  arms  are  hewn  deep  into  the  stone. 
In  the  middle  of  each  facade  a  door  with  decorative  lintel  is 
cut,  but  only  the  lower  half  is  pierced  so  as  to  furnish  a  small 
aperture,  the  upper  part  being  left  solid  as  a  screen.  Two 
columns,  cut  in  high  relief,  stand  on  each  side  of  the  doorway. 
They  are  capped  with  the  heads  of  bulls  after  the  characteristic 
manner  of  the  Persepolitan  architecture  and  they  support  an 
entablature,  with  ornamental  architrave,  frieze,  and  cornice, 
forming  a  base  for  the  elaborately  sculptured  panel  that  fills 
the  upper  limb  of  the  cross.  Here,  carved  in  two  rows,  one 
above  the  other,  are  bas-reliefs  representing  the  vassal  nations 
as  supporting  the  staging  upon  which  stands  the  king,  who 
thus  makes  his  enemies  his  footstool.  The  monarch  is  por- 
trayed in  the  same  manner  as  he  is  seen  on  the  Behistan  sculp- 
tures, bow  in  hand,3  but  his  attitude  is  now  that  of  worship 

1  Ctesias,  Fragments^   46  (15),  ed.      height  and. the  breadth  was  doubtless 
Gilmore,  p.  150.  designed  for  the  sake  of  effect. 

2  The    disproportion    between    the  3  See  p.  180,  above. 


298  PERSEPOLIS  AND  ITS  MONUMENTS 

before  the  sacred  fire,  over  which  floats  the  familiar  winged 
effigy  of  Auramazda  with  the  emblem  of  the  sun  shining  in 
the  background. 

The  identity  of  only  one  of  the  four  tombs  is  positively 
known  ;  this  is  the  tomb  of  Darius.  It  is  the  third  sepulchre 
to  the  right,  near  the  point  where  the  cliff  makes  the  sharp 
angle.  The  identification  is  made  by  means  of  two  trilingual 
inscriptions,  of  like  contents,  carved  near  the  figure  of  the 
king  and  around  the  doorway.1  In  some  sixty  lines  the  king 
glorifies  Auramazda,  enumerates  the  nations  that  acknowledge 
his  sway,  and  exhorts  the  people  not  to  depart  from  'the 
Way  which  is  Right.'  All  the  bas-reliefs,  including  the  sculp- 
ture of  the  king,  the  two  figures  behind  him,  which  are  known 
from  inscriptions  to  be  Gobryas  and  Aspathines,2  as  well  as 
the  effigies  of  the  vassal  nations,  have  suffered  much  from  the 
elements  and  from  lapse  of  ages,  but  the  corresponding  carvings 
on  the  other  tombs  give  considerable  aid  in  restoring  them.3 
By  comparing  the  national  garb,  the  characteristic  features, 
and  the  position  of  the  figures  with  the  names  enumerated  in 
the  adjoining  inscription,  we  may  identify  to-day  almost  every 
one  of  the  nations  represented  on  the  bas-relief.4  The  entrance 
to  the  sepulchre  is  so  high  from  the  ground  that  it  is  impossible 
to  reach  it  except  by  the  aid  of  ropes  or  ladders.  The  interior 
of  the  vault  has  been  several  times  examined  and  described  by 
travellers.6  It  consists  of  a  passagelike  chamber  into  which 

1  These  are  the  well-known  inscrip-  long  for  the  publication   of    Dr.    F. 
tions  Naksh-i  Rustam  a  and  b  (Weiss-  Sarre's    admirable   pictures,   referred 
bach,    Die    altpers.     Keilinschr.    pp.  to  by  Andreas,  in  Verhandl.  des  13. 
34-36 ;    Spiegel,   Die  altpers.   Keilin-  Internat.  Orientalisten-Kongresses,  p. 
schr.  pp.  52-57).     The  lower  one  (b)  96,  Leiden,  1904. 

of  the  two  inscriptions  is  now  almost  4  See  Andreas,  op.   cit.  pp.   90-07, 

illegible.  and  cf.  Justi,  (,'rnndr.  Iran.  Philol.  2. 

2  See    Weissbach,    op.    cit.    p.    36 ;  454-455.     MM.   Babin   and   Houssay, 
Spiegel,  op.    cit.    p.  58,  and  compare  collaborators  of  M.  Dieulafoy,  in  1885, 
p.  181,  above.  actually  discovered  names  carved  un- 

8  Photographs  may  be  seen  in  the  der  seven  of  the  figures ;  cf.  Perrot 
well-known  works  of  Stolze  and  of  and  Chipiez,  Histoire  de  VArt,  5.  622. 
Dieulafoy,  and  we  may  look  before  6  For  a  plan  of  the  interior  of  the 


THE  SEPULCHRE   OF  DARIUS  299 

the  low  door  opens,  and  opposite  the  entrance  is  a  recess  whose 
floor  is  higher  than  the  level  of  the  passageway.  Into  the 
stone  flooring  of  this  are  hewn  three  deep  troughs  to  serve  as 
sarcophagi,  probably  for  the  king  and  whichever  two  persons 
he  regarded  as  nearest  to  him,  while  in  the  extension  of  the 
passage  to  the  left  six  more  such  loculi  are  chiselled.  All  the 
receptacles  are  entirely  empty,  and  the  sole  tenants  of  this 
lofty  catacomb  are  bats  and  birds. 

Two  interesting  stories  in  connection  with  this  sepulchre  are 
told  by  Ctesias,  who  must  have  had  them  at  first  hand  during 
his  residence  in  Persia  as  Greek  physician  to  Artaxerxes.  In 
his  brief  notice  regarding  the  tomb  of  Darius  he  says  (and  I 
translate  fairly  literally)  :  '  Darius  ordered  a  tomb  to  be  made 
for  himself  in  the  Double  Mountain,  and  the  work  was  brought 
to  completion  ;  but  when  he  wished  to  inspect  it,  he  was  dis- 
suaded from  so  doing  by  the  Chaldseans  (the  Magian  sooth- 
sayers) and  by  his  parents.  His  parents,  however,  were 
anxious  to  go  up  to  see  it.  As  they  were  being  drawn  up,  the 
priests  who  had  hold  of  the  ropes  saw  some  serpents  and  became 
so  frightened  that  they  let  go  the  ropes,  and  the  parents  of  the 
king  fell  and  were  killed.  The  grief  of  Darius  was  so  great 
that  he  caused  to  be  beheaded  forty  of  those  who  had  pulled  on 
the  ropes.'1  The  other  story  that  is  told  by  Ctesias  is  to  the 
effect  that  Bagapates,  the  favorite  eunuch  of  Darius,  lived  by 
his  dead  master's  tomb  for  seven  years  until  death  released  him 
from  his  devoted  charge.2 

The  other  tombs  apparently  belonged  to  Xerxes,  Arta- 
xerxes I,  and  Darius  II ;  but  in  the  absence  of  inscriptions  we 
can  only  surmise  how  they  were  occupied  respectively.3  It  is 
natural  to  suppose  that  the  tomb  of  Xerxes  was  next  to  that 

tomb,  see  Flandin  and  Coste,  Voyage  2  Ibid.  59  (19),  ed.  Gilmore,  p.  152. 

en  Perse,  Ancienne,  4.   pi.    170  ;  cf .  3  See,  for  example,  Nb'ldeke's  article 

also    Perrot    and    Chipiez,    op.     cit.  on  Persepolis,  Encyclop.  Brit.  9th  ed. , 

5.  626.  18.  558.    A  less  likely  assignment  may 

1  Ctesias,  Fragments,  46  (15),  ed.  be  found  in  Dieulafoy,  L* An  Antique, 

Gilmore,  p.  150.  3.  2,  n.  1. 


300  PERSEPOLIS  AND   ITS  MONUMENTS 

of  his  father,  but  its  position,  whether  to  the  right  or  the  left, 
would  affect  the  assignment  of  the  other  two.  If  we  assume,  as 
I  think  we  are  entitled  to  assume,  that  the  three  sepulchres 
which  are  in  the  main  face  of  the  rock  were  cut  one  after  the 
other  in  regular  order,1  and  that  the  one  in  the  bend  to 
the  extreme  right  (the  so-called  'first  tomb')  was  cut  last, 
and  partly  for  that  reason  is  better  preserved,  then  the  vault 
of  Xerxes  would  be  on  the  left  of  that  of  Darius,  as  we  face 
the  hill,  the  vault  of  Artaxerxes  Longimanus  at  the  end, 
and  the  vault  of  Darius  II,  latest  of  them  all,  in  the  angle  at 
the  extreme  right.2  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  so-called  '  first 
tomb '  at  the  extreme  right  be  assigned  to  Xerxes,  then  Arta- 
xerxes would  have  occupied  the  '  third  tomb '  and  Darius  II 
the  last.8 

Owing  to  the  peculiar  conformation  of  the  cliff  that  has  been 
already  referred  to,  the  4  first  tomb '  faces  almost  to  the  west, 
whereas  the  other  three  face  nearly  to  the  south.  The  more 
protected  position  of  this  tomb,  and  its  greater  inaccessibility, 
for  it  is  the  most  difficult  of  the  four  to  reach,  may  account  for 
its  being  better  preserved,  even  if  one  is  not  prepared  to  grant 
that  it  is  more  recent  than  the  others.  Passing  by  the  tomb  of 
Darius,  already  described,  I  may  remark  that  the  facade  of  the 
'  third  tomb,'  the  one  on  its  left,  is  comparatively  well  preserved, 
much  better  in  fact  than  that  of  Darius,  and  we  must  regret 
that  we  cannot  be  sure  whether  we  are  looking  at  the  sepulchre 
of  Xerxes  or  not.4  The  fourth  and  last  of  the  group  is  nearer 
the  ground  than  the  others  and  is  the  most  damaged  of  them  all. 
Like  the  others,  moreover,  it  is  empty. 

Along  the  base  of  the  rock  below  the  tombs  there  is  carved  a 
series  of  seven  panels  which  date  from  a  later  dynasty,  as  they 

1  It  is  worth  noting  that  the  Sasa-  8  Such  seems  to  be  the  view  of  An- 
nian  bas-reliefs  are  sculptured  only  in      dreas,  op.  cit.  p.  96. 

the  base  of  this  main  wall,  and  not  4  For  a  good  photograph  of  this  and 

below  the  tomb  in  the  cliff  at  the  bend.  the  other  facades,  see  Dieulafoy,  VArt, 

2  So  also  Justi,  Empire  of  the  Per-  Antique,  3.  pis.  1-3.     A  picture  of  the 
sians,  p.  203.  first  tomb  is  also  given  below. 


FIRST  SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM 


FOURTH  SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM 


SEVEN  S  AS  AN  I  AN  SCULPTURES  301 

bear  Sasanian  bas-reliefs  of  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era.  If  we  adopt  the  same  order  of  enumeration  from 
east  to  west  as  for  the  tombs,  we  may  describe  the  first  bas- 
relief  as  located  between  the  first  and  second  sepulchre  and 
adjoining  a  large  incised  space  that  is  vacant,  except  for  three 
rectangular  holes  and  an  unimportant  modern  Persian  inscrip- 
tion dated  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.1  The  bas-relief  itself 
represents  a  Sasanian  royal  group,  one  figure  in  which  is  a 
woman.  The  scene  portrayed  has  been  variously  interpreted 
as  representing  Shahpur  I  (A.D.  241-272)  and  his  queen,  or  as 
Varahran  II  (A.D.  275-293)  and  his  chief  royal  consort,  or  else 
as  figuring  the  marriage  of  Varahran  V,  Bah  ram  Gor  (A.D.  420- 
438),  with  an  Indian  princess.2  The  second  and  third  bas-reliefs 
(the  latter  nearly  buried  by  the  sand  blown  against  it)  3  are  eques- 
trian sculptures,  carved  one  above  the  other  in  the  space  below 
the  tomb  of  Darius.  They  represent  two  stages  of  a  combat  on 
horseback,  in  which  the  king  on  the  left  triumphs  over  his 
enemy  on  the  right,  whose  spear  is  broken  and  whose  horse  is 
worsted  in  the  fray.  These  panels  may,  perhaps,  commemorate 
victorious  engagements  of  Varahran  IV  of  Kermanshah  (A.D. 
388-399). 4  The  fourth  panel,  or  that  in  the  lower  space  be- 
tween the  tomb  of  Darius  and  its  neighbor  on  the  left,  has  a 
peculiar  interest,  as  it  portrays  the  surrender  of  the  Roman 
emperor  Valerian  (A.D.  260)  to  the  Sasanian  monarch  Sapor, 
Shahpur  I.  The  victor,  mounted  upon  a  war-horse,  triumphantly 
receives  the  submission  of  the  suppliant  who  kneels  before  him. 
The  fifth  sculpture,  like  the  second  and  third,  represents  in 

1  For  a  note  on  this  modern  Per-  Persia,    2.    118-119 ;    Modi,    JEAS. 
sian  inscription,  see  Browne,  A  Year  Bombay  Branch,  19.  58-75,  Bombay, 
Amongst  the  Persians,  p.  248.      The  1895    =  Asiatic    Papers,   pp.  67-84, 
blank  space  with  the  three  holes,  seen  Bombay,  1905. 

in  the  photograph  which  I  reproduce,  3  This    partially    buried    panel    is 

appears    in    the    seventeenth-century  shown    in    a    photograph    by    Stolze 

drawings  of  Chardin,  Voyages,  2.  pi.  and  Andreas,   Persepolis,  2.  pi.   121, 

74  and  p.  175.  and  in  the  drawings  of  Flandin  and 

2  For  the  various  views,  see  Justi,  Coste,  4.  pis.  174,  184. 
Grundr.  Iran.  Philol.  2.  519  ;  Curzon,  *  Compare  also  p.  221,  above. 


302  PERSEPOLIS  AND   ITS  MONUMENTS 

a  spirited  manner  an  engagement  on  horseback,  but  the  per- 
sonages in  the  combat  have  not  yet  been  identified.  The  sixth, 
near  the  lower  end  of  the  crag,  portrays  Varahran  II  and  his 
courtiers,  and  the  seventh,  or  last  of  the  group,  represents  in 
effigy  King  Ardashir  (A.D.  226-241),  the  founder  of  the  Sasa- 
nian  line,  mounted  on  horseback  and  receiving  from  the  god 
Ormazd,  who  is  similarly  mounted,  a  ring  that  symbolizes  the 
gift  of  sovereignty.  Trampled  beneath  the  feet  of  the  horses 
lie  the  prostrate  forms  of  Volagases  and  Artabanus,  the  last  of 
the  Parthian  dynasty.1 

Opposite  the  fourth  tomb,  and  about  twenty  yards  away, 
is  a  square  building  that  evidently  dates  back  to  Achaemenian 
times  and  recalls  the  ruined  structure  at  Pasargadse  to  which 
I  drew  attention  in  the  preceding  chapter.2  The  natives  call 
it  Ka'-bah-i  Zardusht,  '  Shrine  of  Zoroaster.'  Lord  Curzon, 
however,  like  Dieulafoy,  has  stoutly  maintained  that  the  struc- 
ture served  as  a  royal  tomb  and  was,  perhaps,  the  mausoleum 
of  Hystaspes,  the  father  of  Darius.3  The  majority  of  Iranian 
scholars,  including  so  distinguished  a  specialist  as  Justi,  are 
agreed  with  Ker  Porter  in  regarding  the  building  as  a  fire- 
shrine,  like  the  modern  Parsi  sagri  that  commonly  adjoins 
a  Tower  of  Silence.  Any  one  who  has  visited  Malabar  Hill 
at  Bombay,  or  crossed  the  harbor  to  inspect  the  dakhmah  at 
Ooran,  after  studying  the  history  of  Persia's  sacred  fire  in 
connection  with  the  representations  on  the  coins,  will  be  in- 
clined to  agree  with  this  Zoroastrian  explanation.  Without 
again  mentioning  the  Pasargadse  building,  it  is  sufficient  to 
compare  the  kindred  structures  near  Naubandajan4  and  at 
Firuzabad,  and  the  representation  of  fire-shrines  on  coins  of 
the  Parthian  dynasty,  to  become  convinced  of  the  sacred 

1  For   a   fuller    description    of    all  8  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  144-147. 
these  sculptures,  together  with  abun-  *  Near    Fasa    below    Fahliyan    in 
dant  material  in  the  way  of  bibliog-  western    Farsistan.       For    a    photo- 
raphy,     consult     Curzon,    Persia,    2.  graph    of  the     fire-temple     at    Nau- 
117-126.  baudajan,   see    Stolze    and    Andreas, 

2  See  p.  280,  above.  Persepolis,  2.  147. 


SIXTH  AND  SEVENTH  SASANIAN  SCULPTURES  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM 


STONE  EDIFICE  NEAR  THE  TOMBS  AT  NAKSH-I  RUSTAM 


THE  SQUARE  BUILDING   AND    THE   FIRE-ALTARS         303 

character  of  the  building.1  Although  not  strictly  a  temple, 
since  the  Persians  had  no  true  temples  like  the  Greeks,  it  is 
precisely  the  sort  of  building  that  would  have  been  adapted 
to  the  purpose  of  preserving  the  sacred  fire  which  was  kept 
burning  in  some  hallowed  urn.  The  absence  of  windows  (for 
the  window-spaces  are  blank)  and  of  a  smoke-vent  is  no 
convincing  argument  against  this  view,  because  smoke  was 
regarded  as  a  creation  of  the  evil  spirit  and  every  effort  was 
doubtless  made  to  provide  against  its  formation.2 

Leaving  this  square  building  and  riding  around  the  lower 
end  of  the  bluff  we  come  to  two  Atash-G-dhs,  4  Fire-Altars,' 
carved  out  of  the  living  stone  and  dating  back  to  Achsemenian 
times,  according  to  the  generally  accepted  view,  from  which 
there  is  no  occasion  to  dissent.  They  recalled  to  me  the  dditya 
gdtu,  or  fire-altar,  of  Avestan  days,  and  I  could  fancy  the 
Magian  priest  heaping  high  the  incense  and  sandalwood  upon 
the  sacred  flame  on  some  solemn  occasion  when  the  Great 
King,  mindful  of  death  in  the  midst  of  all  his  earthly  pomp, 
came  to  offer  sacrifice  at  the  royal  tombs. 

Ascending  the  hill  so  as  to  overlook  the  tombs,  we  see 
near  the  lower  edge  of  the  bluff  a  low  pillar,  about  five  feet 
high,  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock.3  This  shaft  may  have  com- 
memorated some  event  no  longer  discoverable,  as  it  is  not 
recorded  by  an  inscription,  but  I  may  refer  to  the  fact  that 
Darius  set  up  inscribed  pillars  at  Tell  al-Maskhutah  in  Egypt 
and  at  Chaluf,  and  also,  according  to  Herodotus,  in  Thrace.4 

1  See  especially  the  points  made  by      the  surface  or  as  cavities  for  sheets 
Justi,  Grundr.  Iran.  Philol.  2.  456,  and      of  metal  plates  or  for  tiles. 

Empire  of  the  Persians,  pp.  203-206.  3  For  a  somewhat  imperfect  sketch 

2  Cf.    also    Justi,    Empire    of   the  of  the  cliff  and  the  pillar,  see  Flandin 
Persians,  p.   205,  and  Grundr.  iran.  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Andenne^ 
Philol.  2.  456.      The  peculiar  pitted  5.  pi.  89. 

appearance    of    the    exterior    of    the  4  For    the    0-7-^X77    in    Thrace,    see 

building    is     a     puzzle    to    arcbseol-  Herodotus,    History,  4.    91  ;    and  for 

ogists.     Justi    (  1.  c. )    has    suggested  the  others  compare  Dr.  L.  H.  Gray's 

that    it    may   be    caused    by    spaces  appendix  to  my  article  in  JA08.  21. 

left  for  securing  a  stucco  spread  over  183-184. 


304  PERSEPOLIS  AND  ITS  MONUMENTS 

Still  farther  up  on  the  bluff  there  are  some  level  spaces, 
hewn  out  of  the  rock  and  peculiar  in  their  character.  They 
are  presumed  to  be  the  tables  on  which  the  dead  were  exposed 
to  be  devoured  by  dogs  and  birds  in  accordance  with  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  Avesta.  Because  of  their  possible  connection 
with  the  question  of  the  religion  of  the  Achsemenians,  I  paid 
more  attention  to  them  than  I  might  have  done  otherwise,  and 
I  visited  the  spot  twice.  I  counted  three  of  these  repositories 
on  my  first  visit  and  noticed  two  more  on  my  second,  and  pos- 
sibly there  may  be  others  that  I  overlooked.  The  one  to  which 
I  paid  most  attention  was  finished  with  more  care  than  the  rest, 
and  the  rock  had  been  cut  in  such  a  manner  as  almost  to  form 
a  divan,  with  a  level  flooring  in  front  of  it,  measuring  perhaps 
eight  feet  by  ten,  but  hewn  in  the  roughest  style  and  shape. 
By  the  side  of  this  quasi-couch  of  stone  and  at  the  head  as  well 
as  near  the  feet  were  holes,  which  suggested  to  me  the  idea  that 
they  might  possibly  have  been  intended  for  use  in  securing  the 
body,  as  enjoined  by  the  Vendidad,  4  so  that  the  corpse-eating 
dogs  and  birds  might  not  carry  away  any  of  the  bones  of  the 
dead  and  thus  defile  the  water  and  the  trees.'1  The  difficulty, 
however,  is  to  determine  precisely  by  whom  and  at  what  par- 
ticular period  this  mortuary  platform  was  used,  if  we  regard  it 
so  and  similarly  construe  the  other  spaces  which  are  not  so 
distinctly  marked.  The  bodies  of  the  kings  themselves  can 
hardly  have  been  exposed  here  before  being  laid  in  the 
tomb,  as  those  catacombs  were  evidently  designed  to  hold 
large  coffins,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  size  of  the  loculi  and 
from  the  description  of  the  tombs  back  of  the  platform  as  given 
by  Diodorus,  who  says  that  the  body  was  raised  by  4  machines ' 
expressly  devised  for  the  purpose.2  Nor  does  it  seem  likely 
that  the  bones  were  first  denuded  of  the  flesh  any  more  than  in 
the  case  of  Cyrus,  whose  4  body '  (o-w^a)  is  spoken  of  by  Arrian 
and  Strabo  when  describing  the  mausoleum  at  Pasargadse.3 

1  Vd.  6.  46.  •  See  pp.  285-286,  above. 

2  Diodorus  Siculus,  History,  17.  71. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


PRESUMABLE   ANCIENT  DAKHMAHS   ON   THE   CLIFF      305 

The  Persians  in  Achgemenian  times,  moreover,  had  not  gener- 
ally adopted  the  Magian  fashion  of  exposing  the  dead,  but 
rather  buried  the  body,  merely  coating  it  with  wax,  as  a  con- 
cession to  the  Magi,  who  followed  the  strict  Zoroastrian  law 
for  exposing  corpses ; 1  and  it  was  not  until  the  time  of  the 
Sasanians  that  the  custom  of  exposure  became  universal  among 
the  orthodox  throughout  Iran.  For  that  reason,  if  we  are  to 
assign  these  presumable  dakhmahs  to  Achsemenian  times,  we  are 
entitled,  perhaps,  to  suggest  the  possibility  that  they  may  have 
been  first  employed  by  the  Magian  priests  themselves  —  per- 
haps to  give  currency  to  this  tenet  of  the  religion  —  and  then 
may  have  come  into  more  general  use  later,  especially  when  the 
city  of  ^Stakhr  was  under  Sasanian  rule.  But  this  is  only  a 
conjecture,  and  the  whole  subject  requires  further  consideration. 

On  the  highest  point  of  the  bluff,  and  just  above  the  sepul- 
chres, is  one  other  noticeable  object.  It  is  a  sort  of  parapet 
cut  near  the  rocky  ledge  and  ascended  by  five  roughly  hewn 
steps.  It  appears  to  date  from  the  same  period  as  the  other 
cuttings  and  looks  as  if  it  might  have  been  for  use  on  some 
occasion  when  sacrifice  was  offered  to  '  Auramazda  and  the 
other  divinities,' 2  or  when  the  king  was  laid  in  the  tomb,  but 
nothing  is  actually  known  of  its  real  character. 

After  finishing  my  examination  of  the  necropolis  cliff,  its 
altars,  and  its  presumably  early  dakhmahs,  I  proceeded  down- 
ward and  remounted  my  horse  to  ride  toward  the  river  Polvar, 
which  winds  its  way  through  the  plain  between  Naksh-i  Rus- 
tam  and  the  great  platform  of  Persepolis.  My  ultimate  goal 
was  the  small  station  of  Puzah,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Polvar, 
but  to  reach  it  I  had  first  to  cross  some  deep  irrigation-canals 
and  then  ford  the  stream.  To  make  the  progress  of  our  little 
caravan  slower,  the  horses  persisted  in  stopping  to  nibble  the 
tempting  tops  of  the  barley  which  had  grown  high  from  the 

1  We  may  deduce  this  from  the  ac-  2  Bh.  4.  61,  63,  etc.     Cf.  also  Ker 

count  given  by   Herodotus,   History,      Porter,  Travels,  1.  570. 
1.  140. 

x 


306  PERSEPOLIS  AND   ITS  MONUMENTS 

effect  of  the  spring  rains,  but  in  this  way  I  had  a  better  oppor- 
tunity to  survey  the  plain. 

The  north  side  of  the  Plain  of  Mervdasht  is  dotted  here  and 
there  with  ruins  of  the  ancient  city  of  Stakhra,  the  capital  as  op- 
posed to  the  platform,  or  capitol.1  Although  the  name  Stakhra 
has  not  been  traced  back  beyond  Sasanian  times,  it  must  be  an 
old  Iranian  word  meaning  4  strong,'  as  applicable  to  the  strategic 
character  of  the  place  in  ancient  times,  and  we  have  traditional 
authority  for  even  assigning  the  founding  of  the  city  to  the 
early  dawn  of  the  legendary  Pishdadians,  since  Yakut  says,  4  Its 
commencement  is  attributed  to  Istakhr,  son  of  Tahumars 
(Tahmuraf).'  2  Mustaufi  (A.D.  1340)  reports  a  twofold  legend, 
stating  that, 4  according  to  some,  Istakhr  was  built  by  Keiomars  ; 
but  according  to  others,  it  was  founded  by  his  son  Istakhr, 
enlarged  by  Hoshang,  and  completed  by  Jamshid.' 3  The  still 
earlier  writer  Ibn  Haukal,  in  the  tenth  century,  acknowledges 
that  4  Istakhr  is  a  city  neither  small  nor  great,  but  it  is  more 
ancient  than  any  city  whatsoever  in  Farsistan. ' 4  Firdausi,  in 
his  epic,  presupposes  the  existence  of  the  city  in  the  age  of  the 
legendary  Kei  Kaus,  for,  according  to  the  poet,  it  had  '  a  palace 
that  was  the  glory  of  the  royal  family.' 5  Tabari  (d.  A.D.  923), 
writing  in  the  same  century  as  Firdausi,  but  earlier,  even  claims 
that  it  was  to  a  place  in  Istakhr,  called  Dizh-i  Niplsht,  c  Strong- 
hold of  Records,'  that  Zoroaster's  patron,  Vishtasp,  sent  the 
original  copy  of  the  Avesta,  which  was  engrossed  in  letters  of 
gold.  This  tradition,  also  found  elsewhere,  seems  to  agree  with 
the  Pahlavi  account  of  the  archetype  copy  of  the  scriptures 
which  was  deposited  in  the  4  treasury  of  Shaplgdn  '  6  and  burned 

1  See  p.  294,  above.  Kulub,  cited  by  Barbier  de  Meynard, 

2  Yakut,  p.  49.    Tahumars,  or  Tab-  Diet,  g'eog.  p.  48,  n.  1 ;  and  compare 
muraf,  is  the  same  as  the  Avestan  king  Le  Strange,  Persia  under  the  Mongols, 
Takhma    Urupi,   the    predecessor    of  in  JRAS.  1902,  p.  519. 

Yima  Khshaeta   (Jamshid),  and,  ac-  4  Ibn  Haukal,  tr.  Ouseley,  p.  100. 

cording  to  legend,  his  brother.     See  5  Firdausi,  Shah  Ndmah,  tr.  Mohl, 

on  this  point  Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.  2.  2.  428. 
683,  n.  18.  «  The  spelling  and  reading  of  this 

3  Hamdallah  Mustaufi,  Nuzhat   al~  name  is  various. 


RUINS  OF  STAKHRA 


TAKHT-I  TAUS,  OR  RUSTAM'S  THRONE 


RUINS   OF  ANCIENT  STAKHRA  307 

by  Alexander  the  Great ;  but  we  are  not  sure  whether  this 
4  Stronghold  of  Records '  was  in  the  city  on  the  plain,  or  located 
on  the  platform  itself,  as  is  more  probable,  having  been  trans- 
ferred thither  under  the  later  Achsemenians.1  In  Sasanian 
times  the  city  seems  to  have  been  well  known  as  Stakhr ; 2  but 
it  appears  to  have  lost  its  prestige  with  the  lapse  of  time,  and 
the  place  was  in  ruins  when  Pietro  della  Valle  visited  it  in 
1621.3  Broken  columns,  bases  of  pillars,  and  the  remains  of 
an  ancient  gateway  alone  now  mark  its  site.  To  one  who  is 
acquainted  with  the  clay-built  dwellings  alike  of  the  rich  and 
poor  in  Persia  to-day,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  such  a  city 
could  crumble  into  dust,  with  the  exception  of  the  few  stone 
columns  that  mark  its  site,  particularly  as  Yakut  (A.D.  1220) 
expressly  says,  4  the  houses  of  Istakhr  are  built  of  clay  or  of 
stone  covered  over  with  plaster.'4 

The  southernmost  point  of  this  wide-extended  but  ill-defined 
settlement  of  the  past  appears  still  to  be  marked  by  a  well- 
preserved  small  granite  staging,  which  the  peasants  call  Takht-i 
Td'iis, i  Peacock  Throne,'  or  Takht-i  Rustam,  4  Rustam's  Throne,' 
near  the  little  post-house  at  Puzah.  This  raised  flooring  of 
stone  is  between  seven  and  eight  feet  high  and  about  forty 

1  For  the  statement  of  Tabari  (Lei-  talische  Studien,  pp.  1031-1033,  Strass- 

den  edition,  p.  675)  see  the  translation  burg,  1906. 

by  Gottheil  in  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  97,  2  See  the  Pahlavi  works  Shatroiha-i 
224,  n.  2.  The  statement  is  repeated  Airan,  41,  tr.  Modi,  p.  97  (and  notes)  ; 
by  Bundari  and  by  Thaalibi,  tr.  Zoten-  Karnamak,  4.  11,  ed.  Darab  D.  P.  San- 
berg,  Histoire  des  Hois  des  Perses,  jana,  p.  21. 

p.  257.     Tabari  also  says  there  was  '  a  3  See  Pietro  della  Valle,   Viaggi,  2. 

fire-temple  of   Anahedh  (Anahita)  at  248;   Travels,   ed.   Pinkerton,   9.   101, 

Istakhr'  (tr.  Noldeke,  Geschichte  der  and  cf.  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  134,  136. 
Perser  und  Araber,  p.    4).     For  the  *  Yakut,   p.   49.      On   my   journey 

tradition  about  the  archetype  copy  of  southward  to  Persepolis,  for  example, 

the  Avesta,  see  Denkart  3.  3  ;  7.7.3  n.;  I  noticed  an  instance  where  an  entire 

5.  3.  4  ;  and  compare  West,  SBE.  37.  village   had   been  abandoned  in  com- 

p.   xxxi ;    SBE.  47.  82,  127,  and  my  paratively  recent  times  and  fallen  into 

Zoroaster,  p.  224,  n.  1,  consulting  like-  a  mass  of  dust  and  rubbish,  but  was 

wise  my  article,  Some  Additional  Data  supplanted  by  another  settlement  on  a 

on  Zoroaster,  in  the  volume  in  honor  new  site  half  a  mile  beyond, 
of  Professor  Theodor  Noldeke,  Orien- 


308  PERSEPOLIS   AND   ITS  MONUMENTS 

feet  square,  and  is  composed  of  two  layers  of  white  blocks, 
some  of  them  ten  feet  long,  laid  in  terrace  fashion.  Not  a 
trace  of  a  column  or  base  of  a  pillar  is  seen  on  the  floor  of 
the  structure,  as  would  have  been  the  case  if  it  were  the  sty- 
lobate  of  a  small  audience-hall  (for  we  should  hardly  expect 
to  look  for  a  true  temple  among  Achsemenian  remains) ;  we 
may  presume,  therefore,  that  it  was  really  a  throne-platform, 
as  tradition  says,  like  the  one  mentioned  above  in  the  chapter 
on  Tak-i  Bostan.1  As  such  it  was  probably  not  intended  for 
levees  like  those  on  the  Grand  Platform,  but  may  have  been 
designed  as  a  reviewing-stand  for  great  military  gatherings, 
such  as  the  assembly  on  the  muster-field  of  Castolou  Pedion, 
under  the  younger  Cyrus,  alluded  to  by  Xenophon.2 

The  level  surface  of  this  granite  staging,  or  platform, 
near  Puzah  is  broken  at  the  northwest  corner  by  a  large 
block,  which  might  possibly  have  been  a  rostrum.  About 
two  hundred  yards  distant  from  this  there  rises  from  the  ground 
a  solitary  block  which  looks  as  if  it  might  have  been  used  as  an 
altar  or  a  pulpit,  for  in  front  of  it  there  is  a  stepping-stone, 
standing  on  which  I  could  rest  my  note-book  conveniently  upon 
the  top  of  the  block  —  a  statement  which  will  convey  some  idea 
of  the  height.  In  the  light  of  the  sinking  sun  the  adjacent 
white  terrace  looked  like  the  purest  marble  and  was  outlined 
in  sharp  detail  against  the  black  tents  of  the  nomad  Iliats  who 
were  encamped  near  it. 

On  the  way  to  the  post-house  I  had  time  to  make  a  brief 
inspection  of  the  Sasanian  sculptures  close  by  the  rocks  of 
Naksh-i  Rajab,  as  a  preliminary  to  a  re-examination  of  them 
next  day.  These  bas-reliefs,  three  in  number,  are  carved  in  a 
recess  in  the  rocks,  and  their  position  is  so  little  obtrusive  that 
they  would  easily  escape  notice  unless  one  were  looking 
for  them.  They  belong  to  the  earlier  period  of  the  Sasanian 
dynasty,  and  two  of  them  represent  its  founder,  Ardashir 
Papakan  (A.D.  226-241),  in  the  act  of  receiving  the  crown  at 

1  See  p.  228,  above.  2  Xenophon,  Anabasis,  1. 1. 2 ;  1. 9.  7. 


SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  IN  THE  REAR  OF  THE  RECESS  AT  NAKSH-I  RAJAB 


SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  AT  THE  LEFT  OF  THE  RECESS  AT  NAKSH-I  RAJAB 


THE   S  AS  AN  I  AN  SCULPTURES  AT  NAKSII-I  RAJAB       309 

the  hands  of  the  god  Ormazd.  In  the  first  of  these,  the  one 
to  the  right,  or  on  the  western  side,  Ardashir  and  the  god  are 
mounted  on  horseback,  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  in  the  seventh 
bas-relief  at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  as  shown  in  the  photograph  pre- 
viously given.1  In  the  second,  that  on  the  rear  wall  of  the  niche, 
both  personages  are  on  foot,  and  there  are  several  other  figures 
in  this  group.  Between  the  king  and  the  deity  stand  two  small 
boys,  whose  statues  were  originally  less  sharply  carved  and  are 
now  nearly  obliterated.  They  are  supposed  to  represent  sons 
of  the  king.  Behind  the  monarch  there  stands  a  serious-faced 
unbearded  personage,  who  points  to  an  inscription  back  of 
the  king.  He  is  intended  possibly  to  represent  a  eunuch. 
Behind  him  again  stands  a  heavily  bearded  person  who  is  either 
a  bodyguard  or  a  vizir.  On  the  other  hand,  to  the  right 
and  back  of  the  god,  there  are  two  smooth-faced  figures  that 
look  like  a  queen  and  her  maid  retiring  from  the  scene.2  We 
do  not  know  precisely  the  details  of  the  royal  incident  here 
depicted,  but  the  names  Shahpur  and  Varahran,  given  in  a 
Pahlavi  inscription  to  which  the  unbearded  personage  points 
his  finger,  assigns  it  to  Sapor  I  (A.D.  241-272)  or  his  son 
Bahram  II  (A.D.  2T6-293).3  The  third  panel,  the  bas-relief 
on  the  left,  or  north,  side  of  the  recess,  represents  Sapor  I  on 
horseback  and  attended  by  a  bodyguard  on  foot.  An  inscrip- 
tion in  Pahlavi  and  Greek  serves  to  identify  the  king.4 

The  night  was  passed  in  the  tiny  chdpdr-khdnah  of  Puzah, 
the  smallest  in  all  Persia,  I  believe,  and  by  daylight  next  morn- 
ing I  was  ready  to  mount  for  the  short  ride  to  the  great 

1  See  p.  302,  above,  and  the  pic-  4  1  have  reproduced   from   my  col- 
ture  of  the  seventh  bas-relief.     For  a  lection  photographs  of  the  second  and 
photograph     of    the     Naksh-i    Rajab  third  of   these  bas-reliefs  ;    for   other 
equestrian   sculpture,  see    Stolze  and  photographs   of   these,    including    the 
Andreas,  Persepolis,  2.  pi.  100.  first,  see  Stolze  and  Andreas,  Persepo- 

2  They  did  not   look    to    me    like  Us,  2.  pis.  100-104 ;  Dieulafoy,  U Art 
eunuchs,    and    my    guides    spoke    of  Antique,  5.  pi.  17.     The  light  in  the 
them  as  sculptures  of  women.  recess  is  unfortunately  not  favorable 

3  For  the  inscription  and  references,  for  making  successful  photographs  of 
see  West,  Grundr.  iran.  Philol.  2. 77-78.  the  sculptures. 


310  PEESEPOL1S  AND  ITS  MONUMENTS 

platform  of  Persepolis,  Takht-i  Jamshid, '  Jamshid's  Throne,'  as 
the  Persians  call  it,  or  Chahal  Mindr,  '  Forty  Columns,'  the 
name  by  which  it  was  more  generally  known  in  books  of 
travel  three  or  four  centuries  ago.  This  magnificent  terrace 
is  the  foundation  upon  which  stood  the  palaces  of  Darius, 
Xerxes,  Artaxerxes,  and  their  successors ;  here  Alexander 
held  revel  in  the  deserted  halls  of  his  adversary  Darius 
Codomannus,  the  last  of  the  Achsemenians,  and  in  his  drunken 
orgy,  as  is  believed,  burned  the  lordly  edifices  and  the  royal 
library  that  housed  the  scriptures  and  ancient  records  of  Iran.1 
To-day  majestic  ruins  alone  crown  the  height,  and  the  natives 
know  nothing  about  the  historic  associations  connected  with 
the  platform  and  think  of  it  only  as  one  of  the  scenes  of  Jam- 
shid's departed  glory. 

The  platform  itself  lies  at  the  base  of  a  rocky  row  of  hills 
called  Kiih-i  Rahmat, 4  Mountain  of  Mercy,'  and  in  former  times 
apparently  also  Shdh-Kuh,  '  Royal  Mountain,'  the  /3acn\iicbv  0/005 
of  Diodorus,2  which  rises  to  the  east  and  whose  spurs  have 
been  partly  cut  away  in  the  building  of  the  terraced  elevation. 
A  noble  wall,  varying  from  twenty  to  fifty  feet  in  height  and 
constructed  •  of  stone  quarried  from  the  hillside,  encloses  the 
area  on  the  three  exposed  sides,  for  no  barrier  was  needed  at 
the  rear  because  of  the  natural  fortification  of  the  hills,  as  will 
be  clear  to  any  one  who  has  visited  the  scene  or  consulted  the 
panoramic  photograph  by  Dieulafoy  and  the  drawings  of  Flan- 
din.3  The  configuration  of  the  terrace-height  is  such  that  three 
distinct  levels  are  clearly  noticeable,  the  highest  being  in  the 
middle,  which  is  made  still  more  elevated  by  a  mound  in  its 
midst.  Over  the  surface  of  the  platform  are  spread  the 
remains  of  the  architectural  glories  of  the  Achsemenians. 

We  have  a  general  description  of  the  platform,  written  in 

1  See  p.  307,  n.  1,  above.    Diodorus  2  See    Diodorus    Siculus,    History, 

Siculus  (History,  17.  72)  draws  a  vivid  17.  71. 

picture  of  the  orgy  and  of  the  burning  3  See  Dieulafoy,  U "Art  Antique  de 

of  Persepolis,  a  scene  familiar  through  la  Perse,   2.   pis.   4-7  ;   Flandin  and 

Dryden's  'Alexander's  Feast.'  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  2.  pi.  07. 


THE  PLATFORM  OF  PERSEPOLIS  311 

Greek  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago,  by  Diodorus  Siculus 
(c.  B.C.  50).  Since  the  passage  is  important  as  a  means  of 
identification  of  the  site,  I  translate  the  paragraph  which  relates 
to  the  construction  of  the  terrace  and  the  tombs  of  the  kings, 
preserving  in  my  rendering  the  interchange  of  tenses,  present 
and  past,  that  is  found  in  the  original  Greek. 


'  The  citadel  (aKpa)  is  worthy  of  mention.  It  had  a  threefold 
wall  surrounding  it,  the  first  (section)  of  which  was  constructed 
with  stately  bastions  (dvaX^/x/xan  TroAvSaTravw)  and  adorned  with 
battlements  (e7roA£e<n)  and  it  had  a  height  of  sixteen  cubits.1  The 
second  has  a  similar  arrangement  to  that  of  the  preceding,  but  double 
its  height.  The  third  enclosure  is  rectangular  in  shape,  and  its  wall 
is  sixty  cubits  high  and  constructed  of  solid  stone  so  perfectly  set 
as  to  last  forever.  On  each  side  it  has  brazen  gates  and,  beside  them, 
brazen  bulls,  twenty  cubits  high,2  the  latter  being  intended  to 
inspire  awe  in  the  beholder,  and  the  former  designed  for  security. 
On  the  side  of  the  citadel  toward  the  east,  and  four  hundred  feet 
distant,  is  the  so-called  Royal  Mountain,  in  which  were  the  tombs 
of  the  kings.  The  rock  was  hewn  out  and  had  in  its  bosom  several 
sepulchres  in  which  were  the  vaults  of  the  dead.3  There  were  no 
specially  prepared  means  of  access,  but  the  corpses  were  hoisted  up 
by  machines  (opyavwv)  devised  for  the  purpose,  and  thus  received 
burial.4  In  the  citadel  itself  there  were  many  sumptuously  equipped 
residences  for  the  king  and  his  officers,  and  likewise  treasuries 
well  adapted  for  the  safe-guarding  of  wealth.75 

The  original  plan  and  the  main  construction  of  this  noble 
platform  (which  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago  was  com- 

1  1  believe  that  the  '  threefold  wall  '  2  Reading  ravpote  for  <rTavpot>s,  ac- 

refers  to  the  three  distinct  levels  shown  cording  to  Mr.  Cecil  Smith's  excellent 

in  the  terrace  rampart,  although  Blun-  emendation,   cf.    Curzon,    Persia,   2. 

dell  (Persepolis,  in  Transactions  of  the  187,  n.  1,  and  Blundell,  op.  cit.  p.  553. 

Ninth  International  Congress  of  Ori-  It    is    possible   that  the   now  ruined 

entalists,  2.  553)  interprets  this  as  re-  bull-flanked  portals   may  have    been 

ferring  to  actual  walls  of  circumvalla-  actually  gilded  in  ancient  times. 
tion.     Instead  of  'bastions,'  which  I  3  Literally  'has  in  its  midst  several 

understand  as  alluding  to  the  various  houses  (ofoous)  .  ' 

bays  in  the  rampart,  we  may  perhaps  4  Literally  '  the  vaults  receive  burial 

refer  the  words  a  vaX^nan  iroXvSairdvy  of  the  corpses  that  have  been  hauled  up.' 
to  the  sumptuous  edifices  on  the  terrace.  6  Diodorus  Siculus,  History,  17.  71. 


312  PERSEPOLIS  AND  ITS  MONUMENTS 

pared  with  Baalbec  and  the  architectural  remains  of  Palmyra 
and  Egypt,1  and  fabled  to  be  the  work  of  Solomon's  genii) 
was  due  to  Darius.  In  one  of  his  inscriptions  he  definitely 
states  that  he  '  built  this  fortress  on  a  place  where  no  fortress 
had  been  built  before,'  and  that  he  did  so  by  the  grace  of 
4  Auramazda  and  the  other  gods.' 2  Darius  erected  at  least  two 
of  the  noblest  buildings,  but  the  elaboration  of  the  design  was 
due  to  Xerxes  and  its  completion  to  his  successors.  Though 
far  grander  in  its  magnificence  than  any  ordinary  fortress,  it 
must  have  been  easily  guarded  by  armed  patrols  on  the  walls 
and  by  platoons  of  soldiers  stationed  at  all  points  of  access,  and 
reasons  have  been  advanced  for  believing  that  its  strength  was 
re-enforced  by  walled  fortifications  or  turrets  in  front  of  it  on 
the  plain.3  The  southerly  position  of  the  Palace  of  Darius  and 
the  fact  that  it  faces  southward  has  led,  not  unreasonably  per- 
haps, to  the  assumption  that  there  was  originally  an  approach 
from  the  south  or  southeast,  whereas  the  regular  means  of 
access,  which  must  have  been  unchanged  since  the  time  of 
Xerxes,  is  by  a  great  double  staircase  constructed  in  the  wall 
near  the  northwest  angle  of  the  platform. 

This  Grand  Staircase  (A)  consists  of  a  double  ramping  flight, 
each  series  numbering  more  than  a  hundred  steps,  with  an  angle 
of  ascent  so  gentle  and  a  width  so  broad,  that  a  troop  of  horse- 

1  See  the  Mohammedan  writer  Ista-  ress  '  (Elam.  halvarras,  the  same  word 

khri  (c.  A.D.  950),  ed.  De  Goeje,  Bibl.  that  is  employed  to  render  OP.  dula  in 

Geog.  Arab.  1.  150  and  1.  123,  cf.  Bh.  2. 39)  is  found  only  in  the  Elamitic 

Schwarz,  Iran  im  Mittelalter  nach  version  of  the  inscription  on  the  side  of 

den  Arabischen  Geoyraphen,  1.  13-  the  rampart,  mentioned  below,  p.  318. 

14,  Leipzig,  1896  ;  and  Mokadassi,  or  8  See  reference  already  given  to 

Makdasi  (A.D.  984),  ed.  De  Goeje,  Blundell,  Persepolis,  in  Ninth  Inter- 

Bibl.  Geog.  Arab.  3.  420,  435,  446,  cf.  nat.  Congress  of  Orientalists,  2.  547- 

Noldeke,  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  656.  As  explained  above,  I  am  inclined 

9th  ed.,  18.  558,  notes  1  and  10.  A  to  explain  the  threefold  wall  of  Diodo- 

still  earlier  description  of  Istakhr  is  rus  (17.  71)  as  referring  rather  to  the 

given  by  Masudi  (A.D.  944),  Les  Prai-  three  main  elevations,  and  to  under- 

ries  cf  Or,  ed.  Barbier  de  Meynard,  4.  stand  that  the  bull-flanked  portals  may 

76  seq.  actually  have  been  gilded  as  implied  in 

3  This  statement  regarding  the  '  fort-  the  '  brazen  gates '  and  '  brazen  bulls. ' 


THE   GRAND   STAIRCASE   AND    THE  PORTAL    OF  XERXES       313 

men,  ten  abreast,  could  ride  up  it.1  As  we  surmount  the  top- 
most step  and  cast  the  eye  over  the  surface  of  the  platform,  we 
are  struck  by  a  succession  of  stately  portals,  broken  columns, 
capitals,  pedestals,  stone  steps,  sculptured  friezes,  and  doorways, 
spread  about  in  confusion  or  gathered  into  disordered  groups. 
So  often  have  these  ruins  been  described,  and  so  fully  have 
they  been  illustrated  that  I  can  do  little  here  except  point  out 
the  salient  features  and  possibly  add  a  suggestion  or  two 
regarding  the  historic  significance  of  these  relics  of  the  past.2 

Directly  opposite  the  Grand  Staircase  is  the  Porch  of 
Xerxes  (-#)•  This  imposing  propylseum  is  guarded  at  each  en- 
trance, back  and  front,  by  colossal  winged  bulls  of  stone,  after 
the  Assyrian  manner.  Two  of  these  colossi  face  westward  out 
over  the  plain ;  the  other  two  (a  photograph  of  which  I  have 
given  in  the  fourth  chapter)  look  eastward  toward  the  hills 
behind  the  platform.  Near  the  top  of  each  of  the  massive 
pylons  of  this  portico  there  is  a  trilingual  inscription  in  cunei- 
form characters,  stating  that  the  portal  is  the  work  of  Xerxes 
and  ascribing  praise  to  Auramazda  for  all  the  blessings  of  his 
divine  favor.3  Two  of  the  original  four  fluted  columns  are 
still  standing  between  the  stately  piers  of  this  triumphal  arch, 
the  '  Portal  of  All  Nations,'  as  Xerxes  himself  called  it,4  through 
which  at  No-Ruz  the  envoys  from  tributary  lands  marched  in 
solemn  procession  to  bring  gifts  to  the  Great  King,  as  por- 
trayed on  the  sculptured  stylobate  some  fifty  yards  to  the  south. 


1  Attention  was  called  to  this  fact,  and   Chipiez,    and   Dieulafoy,   all    of 
centuries  ago,  in  the  Zinat  al-Majlis,  which  have  been  referred  to    many 
pt.  9,  cited  by  Barbier  de  Meynard,  times  before. 

Diet.  geog.  p.  48,  n.  2  ;  also  by  Justi,  8  See    Weissbach    and    Bang,    Die 

Empire  of  the  Persians,  p.  189,  and  altpers.  Keilinschr.  p.  40,  and  Spiegel, 

by  others.  Die  altpers.  Keilinschr.  p.  58. 

2  For  the  best  presentation  of  all  4  In    the    old     Persian    language, 
that  has  been  written  on  this  subject,  duvarthi  visa-dahyu,  see  Xerx.  Pers. 
see   Curzon,   Persia,  2.   148-196  ;   for  a.  11.     For  a  conjectural  restoration 
illustrative  material,  consult  the  stand-  of  the  Portal,  see  Perrot  and  Chipiez, 
ard    works    of    Texier,   Flandin    and  Histoire  de  VArt,  5.  pi.  3,  p.  404. 
Coste,    Stolze    and    Andreas,    Perrot 


314  PERSEPOLIS  AND   ITS  MONUMENTS 

This  latter  terrace,  with  its  elaborately  carved  frieze  and 
cuneiform  inscriptions  on  the  walls  of  the  four  staircases  that 
approach  it,  served  as  a  stylobate  for  Xerxes'  lofty  Audience- 
Hall  ((7),  the  ruined  columns  of  which  gave  rise  to  the  native 
designation  Chahal  Mindr,  'Forty  Pillars.'  But  the  original 
number  of  columns  was  seventy-two,  and  of  these  only  thir- 
teen are  standing,  to  mark  with  their  tall  fluted  shafts  the 
aisles  that  led  to  the  spot  where  Xerxes  held  levees  within 
its  once  tapestry-hung  walls.1  The  ruin  and  desolation  form  a 
pathetic  contrast  to  the  proud  vaunt  of  the  king  in  the  cunei- 
form tablet  carved  on  the  stairway  of  approach,  '  I  am  Xerxes, 
the  Great  King,  the  King  of  Kings,  King  of  the  Nations  with 
their  many  peoples,  King  of  this  Great  Earth  even  to  afar,'  and 
a  sadder  comment  on  the  pious  fervor  of  the  words  that  follow, 
*  Thus  saith  Xerxes,  the  Great  King :  Everything  that  has 
been  made  by  me  here  and  all  that  has  been  made  for  me  else- 
where, I  have  made  by  the  grace  of  Auramazda ;  may  Aura- 
mazda  with  the  other  divinities  protect  both  my  kingdom  and 
all  that  I  have  made.'2 

Walking  about  fifty  yards  to  the  south  we  come  to  the  ruins 
of  the  Palace  of  Darius  (Z>)  situated  on  the  highest  part  of  the 
platform,  and  directly  before  a  mound  (Z).  Although  smaller 
and  less  imposing  than  either  of  the  main  edifices  raised  by  his 
son  Xerxes,  the  Palace  of  Darius  is  better  preserved  than  the 
others.  Here,  several  times  repeated,  are  inscriptions  record- 
ing the  fact  that  the  building  was  the  '  palace  \tachara), '  house  ' 
(vitTi),  or  the  4  abode '  (hadisK)  3  of  King  Darius,  whose  figure 

1  For  the  problem  of  the  walls  ac-      bach  and  Bang,  Die  altpers.  Krilin- 
cording  to   Fergusson's   architectural       schr.    p.    40 ;     Spiegel,    Die    altpers. 
ideas,    see     Blundell,    Persepolis,    in      Keilinschr.  p.  62). 

Ninth  International  Congress  of  Ori-  8  The    word    hadis    is    added     by 

entalistSj   2.    642-547,    as  opposed  to  Xerxes  in    two    inscriptions    on    his 

Curzon,  Persia,  2.   164-165,  and  the  father's  palace,  once  on  a  shaft  in  the 

reconstructions  by  Dieulafoy,   IS  Art  southwest  corner  of  the  building,  and 

Antique,  3.  pi.  0,  and  Perrot  and  Chi-  once  on  the  southern  wall  of  the  stylo- 

piez,  Histoire  de  VArt,  5.  pis.  4,  5,  6.  bate  on  which  the  palace  stands  (see 

2  See  Xerx.  Pers.  b.  12-30  (Weiss-  Dar.  Pers.  a,  c;  Xerx.  Pers.  ca[cb]; 


PERSEPOLIS 


SUBJECT  NATIONS  BRINGING  TRIBUTE  TO  XERXES 


THE  PALACES   OF  DARIUS  AND   AETAXERXES  315 

is  sculptured  in  bas-relief,  as  fighting  with  some  monster,  whom 
he  slays,  thus  triumphing  over  the  power  of  evil,  or  as  attended 
by  servants  who  bear  the  royal  umbrella,  the  fly-flap,  and  other 
insignia  of  sovereignty.  To  me  the  most  interesting  of  all  the 
inscriptions  was  a  short  device  carved  around  the  stone  lintels 
of  the  windows  through  which  the  king  looked  out  upon  his 
people  and  over  the  fine  panorama  that  stretched  before  his 
view.  The  cuneiform  letters  are  deeply  chiselled  and  they 
form  a  narrow  band  of  text,  originally  repeated  eighteen  times 
because  of  the  number  of  windows,  of  which  only  thirteen 
now  remain.  The  brief  sentence  reads,  ardastdna  dthangaina 
Ddrayavaush  khshdyatJiiyahyd  vithiyd  karta,  4  a  structure  of 
stone  built  in  the  house  of  King  Darius.'1 

Proceeding  again  southward,  across  a  space  that  was  once 
an  open  court  below  the  palace,  we  enter  the  ruins  of  the 
Palace  of  Artaxerxes  III,  Ochus,  (U)  which  faced  directly 
north  toward  the  latter.2  An  inscription,  which  is  thrice  re- 
peated on  the  double  stairway  that  forms  the  approach  on  the 
north,  and  is  reproduced  again  on  the  west,  bears  the  name  of 
Artaxerxes  III,  or  Ochus.  In  this  the  king  gives  his  genealogy 
and,  after  declaring  that  he  has  built  this  stone  structure, 
closes  with  the  words,  'may  Auramazda  and  the  god  Mithra 
protect  me  and  my  country  and  all  that  has  been  made  by  me.' 3 
These  inscribed  tablets  are  separated  by  handsome  panels  that 
are  decorated  with  bas-reliefs  of  the  royal  guards  ;  but  excepting 
these  stairway-friezes  and  the  bases  of  a  group  of  columns,  there 
is  little  to  show  that  the  ruins  among  which  we  are  standing 

Weissbach,  pp.  6,  8,  32,  43 ;  Spiegel,  compare  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  Histoire 

pp.  50,  62  ;  and  compare  Justi,  Qrundr.  de  VArt,  5.  pi.  9  (p.  644). 

iran.  Philol.  2.  451-452).  a  Artax.  Pers.  a[b]  (Weissbach,  pp. 

1  Dar.  Pers.    c   (Weissbach,  pp.  5,  9,46;  Spiegel,  pp.  68,  69).    The  desig- 
34  ;    Spiegel,   p.    50 ;    cf .   also    Justi,  nation  for  the  stairway,  or  possibly  the 
Grundr.    iran.    Philol.    2.    451,    and  stylobate,   is  ustasana    aQan-ga[i]na, 
Bartholomae,  Air.  Wb.  p.  193).  lit.    'up-building    of    stone,'   cf.   also 

2  For  the  court  see  Blundell,  Per-  Justi,  Grundr.    iran.    Philol.    2.  452, 
sepolis,  in  Ninth  International   Con-  and  Bartholomae,  Air.    Wb.  pp.  64, 
gress  of  Orientalists,  2.  641-542,  and  407. 


316  PERSEPOLIS   AND   ITS  MONUMENTS 

are  the  remains  of  a  palace.  The  small  size  of  the  ground-plan 
and  the  unfinished  appearance  of  the  surroundings  have  led 
some  scholars  to  question  whether  the  building  was  actually 
intended  as  a  royal  residence  at  all  and  whether  it  was  ever 
completed.1 

Directly  to  the  east,  on  a  large  rectangular  stylobate  formed 
partly  of  the  natural  rock,'2  stand  the  ruins  of  the  sumptuous 
Palace  of  Xerxes  (^),  the  grandest  of  the  buildings  in  design 
except  his  own  Audience-Hall  and  the  Hall  of  a  Hundred  Col- 
umns belonging  to  his  father.  The  stairways  that  lead  up  to  it 
are  richly  decorated  with  sculptured  panels,  slabs,  ornamented 
friezes,  inscribed  tablets,  and  pillars.3  Fragments  of  columns, 
doorways,  and  windows  remain  to  mark  the  courts  of  the  king, 
who  still  walks  in  effigy  of  stone;  4  but  like  the  grandiloquent 
titles  which  he  hung  upon  the  now  crumbled  walls  they  are 
merely  mute  witnesses  of  a  dead  past. 

Crossing  some  fifty  yards  eastward  over  uneven  ground 
behind  the  palace,  we  find  the  remains  of  a  smaller  building, 
the  so-called  Southeast  Edifice  (6r),  the  identity  of  which  is 
not  positively  known.  Apparently  it  was  a  royal  abode  of 
some  sort  if  we  may  judge  from  the  images  of  the  king  carved 
on  the  doorways  and  representing  him  in  combat  with  conven- 
tionalized monsters  or  as  attended  by  slaves  who  carry  the  royal 
umbrella  and  fly-flap.6  We  may  even  go  further  and  presume 
that  it  was  the  abode  of  Xerxes  as  crown-prince,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  physiognomy  of  the  king  as  portrayed  here  and 
on  the  walls  of  his  palace.6 

About   forty   yards   north-northwest    from    this   point   and 

1  On    this   point   compare    the   re-  4  For    illustrations    of    Xerxes   at- 
marks  of  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  172-173 ;  tended  by  his  servants  or  in  combat 
but  see  Justi,  Grundr.   iran.  Philol.  with  mythical  animals,  see  Stolze  and 
2.  452,  and  Empire  of  the  Persians,  Andreas,  1.  pi.  13  seq. 

p.  197.  6  For  photographic  illustrations,  see 

2  Blundell,  op.  cit.  p.  539.  Stolze  and  Andreas,  1.  pis.  1-4. 

8  See  for  example  the  photographs  6  Justi  (Empire  of  the  Persians,  p. 

in  Stolze  and  Andreas,  Persepolis,  1.  198)  says  4  the  portrait  of  Xerxes  is 
pis.  24-26.  fairly  recognizable  j  it  shows  a  long, 


THE  HALL    OF  A   HUNDRED    COLUMNS  317 

directly  behind  the  mound  in  the  rear  of  the  Palace  of  Darius, 
we  see  a  ruined  entrance-hall,  decorated  with  the  conventional 
bas-reliefs  of  the  king  seated  upon  his  throne.  This  small 
structure  is  known  as  the  Portico  of  Darius  (#"),  though  some- 
times called  the  Central  Edifice. 

Adjoining  it  on  the  east  there  stands  the  last  and  the 
largest  of  all  the  palatial  buildings,  the  Hall  of  a  Hundred 
Columns  (J),  erected  by  Darius  for  holding  ceremonial  func- 
tions. The  main  entrance  was  on  the  north  side  through  a 
vestibule  whose  roof  was  supported  by  sixteen  columns  that 
led  the  way  into  the  throne-hall  itself.  This  superb  edifice 
covered  an  area  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  square,  and 
formed  a  magnificent  structure  raised  on  a  hundred  columns, 
ten  rows  each  way,  but  of  these  not  a  single  one  is  now  stand- 
ing. The  doorways  east  and  west  still  represent  Darius  in  the 
act  of  slaying  animals  of  monstrous  shape,  and  the  entrances 
north  and  south  depict  him  crowned  with  a  tiara  and  mounted 
upon  his  throne  supported  by  three  or  even  five  tiers  of  subject 
nations  who  carry  arms  in  defence  of  their  ruler,  over  whom 
hover  the  wings  of  his  god.1  The  chamber  walls  of  the  royal 
hall  were  probably  of  sun-dried  brick  plastered  over  with  a 
glaze  or  coated  with  enamelled  tiles  ;  but  they  crumbled  into 
dust  ages  ago,  and  only  fragments  of  columns,  stone  door- 
jambs,  and  window-sills  remain,  together  with  bits  of  carbonized 
cedar  buried  beneath  a  mass  of  debris  and  ashes,  to  tell  that 
the  pillars  once  supported  a  roof  with  a  thousand  beams.2  In 
this  case,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Audience-Hall  of  Xerxes,  we 
are  led  to  wonder  whether  it  was  the  hand  of  the  drunken 

bearded  face  with  a  prominent  hooked  Stolze  and  Andreas,  1.  pi.  51 ;  cf.  also 

nose.'     See  also  Justi's  plan,  op.  cit.  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  pp.  176,  178. 
p.  187,  and  compare  his  remarks  in  2  The  Avesta,  by  its  architectural  al- 

Orundr.  iran.  Philol.  2.  452.  lusions  (  Vd.18.  28  ;  Yt.  5.  101 ;  Ys.  57. 

1 1  reproduce  a  photograph  of  the  21)    seems    to    refer    to    magnificent 

North   Doorway   of  the   Hall   of    the  structures  such  as  this.     With  regard 

Hundred  Columns ;    for  a  picture  of  to  the  charcoal  and  decomposed  gach, 

the  less  imposing  South  Doorway,  see  or  plaster,  see  Blundell,  op.  cit.  p.  540. 


318  PERSEPOLIS   AND   ITS  MONUMENTS 

Alexander  and  the  torch  of  his  revelling  soldiers  that  brought 
about  the  desolation  which  reigns  supreme. 

Some  sixty  or  seventy  yards  north  of  this  famous  hall  are 
seen  a  few  blocks  and  mutilated  columns  of  what  was  once  a 
bull-flanked  propylyeum,  or  Porch,  («7)  that  led  to  the  audience- 
hall  itself;  but  all  the  rest  of  its  pristine  glory  is  lost  for- 
ever. In  addition  to  this  portal  there  is  near  the  Porch  of  Xerxes 
a  rock-hewn  Cistern  (K)  which  must  have  fed  a  fountain 
whose  jets  sprang  from  the  midst  of  a  tank  like  the  hoz  in  a 
modern  Persian  courtyard.  Besides  the  tumulus,  or  Mound 
(£),  previously  referred  to,  there  are  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
platform  also  several  underground  passages,  water-channels,  and 
drains,  which  have  not  yet  been  fully  excavated,  together  with 
some  minor  evidences  of  unfinished  work  in  the  past,  but  they 
still  await  the  spade  of  the  archseologist.1 

Before  closing  the  chapter  I  must  add  two  more  paragraphs 
on  matters  of  historic  interest.  The  first  relates  to  two  impor- 
tant inscriptions  carved  by  Darius  on  mammoth  blocks  set  in 
the  southern  retaining  wall  of  the  platform  and  known  to 
scholars  as  Dar.  Pers.  d  and  e.  Each  tablet  contains  twenty- 
four  lines.  In  the  former  inscription  the  king  glorifies  Aura- 
mazda,  gives  thanks  to  him  for  his  blessings,  and  prays  that  he 
and  the  other  divinities  may  ever  protect  the  land.  The  same 
idea  is  repeated  in  the  Babylonian  version,  which  is  largely  a 
paraphrase,  and  partly  also  in  the  Elamitic  section,  which  adds, 
however,  some  interesting  information,  not  found  elsewhere,  to 
the  effect  that  Darius  was  the  first  to  fortify  the  place,  which 
was  not  previously  a  stronghold.2  The  adjoining  inscription 
on  a  block  to  the  right  is  written  only  in  old  Persian  and 

1  For  some  results  from  compara-  see  Weissbach  and  Bang,  pp.  5,  34, 
lively  recent  diggings  in  the  mound  and  Spiegel,  pp.  46-50;  and  compare 
and  some  excavations  among  the  ruins,  Weissbach,  Die  Achdmenideninschrif- 
see  Blundell,  op.  cit.  pp.  537-559.  ten  Zweiter  Art,  p.  76;   Bezold,  Die 

2  For  a  photograph  of  this  inscrip-  Achaemen.  Inschr.  p.  39.    Consult  like- 
tion,   see  Stolze  and    Andreas,    Per-  wise,  Justi,   Chrundr.  iran.  Philol.  2. 
sepolis,  2.  pi.  95  ;  and  for  translations,  448. 


TOMBS   OF   THE  LATER  ACHsEMENIANS  319 

enumerates  the  conquests  of  Darius,  concluding  with  the  prayer 
that  '  Peace  may  come  from  Aura.' 1  As  I  stood  at  the  foot  of 
the  rampart  to  collate  the  tablets  high  above  and  make  notes 
which  I  hope  later  to  publish,  the  sun's  rays  were  so  scorching 
and  the  flies  so  pestiferous  that  I  could  understand  the  king's 
need  for  a  chowri  and  an  umbrella  in  ancient  days ! 

The  remaining  point  of  historic  interest  connected  with 
Persepolis  is  the  series  of  three  tombs  hewn  in  the  rocky  hill 
of  Kuh-i  Rahmat  behind  the  platform.  They  are  the  sepulchres 
of  three  later  kings  of  the  Achsemenian  line  arid  resemble  the 
four  elder  tombs  at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  which  have  been  already 
described;  but  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  hillside  where  they 
are  cut  they  differ  from  the  latter  in  minor  details,  especially 
in  being  less  high  from  the  ground  and  therefore  easy  of  access. 
The  first  of  the  three  is  hewn  in  the  face  of  the  rock  almost 
directly  back  of  the  Hall  of  a  Hundred  Columns  and  is  com- 
monly known  as  the  North  Tomb  and  presumed  to  be  the 
mausoleum  of  Artaxerxes  II,  Mnemon  (B.C.  404-358).  The 
second  lies  in  a  recess  in  the  mountain-side  somewhat  south- 
east of  the  lower  end  of  the  platform  and  is  designated  as  the 
Middle  Tomb,2  and  is  believed  to  be  the  vault  of  Artaxerxes  III, 
Ochus  (B.C.  358-337).  The  third  is  cut  in  a  rock  more  than 
half  a  mile  farther  to  the  south  and  is  easily  accessible  from  the 
ground,  but  was  never  finished.  It  may  have  been  commenced 
by  Darius  III,  Codomannus  (B.C.  335-330),  the  last  of  the  Achse- 
menian  kings.  If  that  be  true,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
his  overthrow  by  Alexander  and  his  subsequent  tragic  death 
were  the  cause  of  its  never  having  been  completed.3 

1  Dar.  Pers.  e.  1-24.    See  also  pre-  as  I  have  given  it,  is  the  generally  ac- 
ceding references.  cepted  one.    See  for  example  Curzon, 

2  The  position  of  the  tombs  may  Persia,  2.  183 ;  Justi,   Grundr.  iran. 
best  be  gathered   from   Flandin   and  Philol.    2.    455.       For    architectural 
Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne,  2,  details    consult  Perrot    and  Chipiez, 
pi.    65    (reproduced    in    Perrot    and  Histoire  de  VArt,  5.  617-638  ;  and  for 
Chipiez,  Histoire  de  VArt,  5.  454).  photographs     refer     to     Stolze     and 

8  The  assignment  of  the  three  tombs,       Andreas,  Persepolis,  1.  pis.  70-73. 


320  PERSEPOLIS  AND   ITS  MONUMENTS 

As  we  gaze  upon  this  tomb  and  the  others,  and  then  cast  our 
eyes  toward  the  ruins  of  Persepolis,  we  can  but  think  with  a 
heart-pang  of  Omar  Khayyam's  lines  :  — 

'  They  say  the  Lion  and  the  Lizard  keep 
The  Courts  where  Jamshyd  gloried  and  drank  deep.' 

Here  stood  the  palace  of  Darius,  there  the  throne-room  of 
Artaxerxes,  yonder  the  pillared  halls  of  Xerxes,  and  not  far 
distant  the  tombs  of  the  kings.  But  all  are  in  ruins ;  all  are 
relics  of  glory  past.  Yet  who  knows  ?  Out  of  the  shadow  of 
by-gone  days,  out  of  the  dust  of  departed  ages,  out  of  the  ashes 
of  the  Simurgh's  fire,  out  of  the  fragments  of  shattered  Iran, 
there  may  arise  one  whose  master  hand  will  restore  the  glory 
of  the  ancient  Persian  kingdom,  illumine  again  the  pages  of 
Persia's  chronicles,  recall  what  was  noblest  in  the  Parthian  rule 
and  Sasanian  empire,  and  make  splendid  once  more  the  land 
and  people  of  the  Lion  and  the  Sun. 


THE  PALACE  OF  DARIUS 


A  PORTAL  AND  THE  HALL  OF  A  HUNDRED  COLUMNS 
(The  North  Tomb  in  the  Background) 


HA 

OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTER  XXI 
SHIRAZ,   THE  HOME  OF  THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

*  There's  a  bower  of  roses  by  Bendemeer's  stream 

And  the  nightingale  sings  round  it  all  the  day  long ; 
In  the  time  of  my  childhood  'twas  like  a  sweet  dream, 

To  sit  in  the  roses  and  hear  the  birds'  song. 
The  bower  and  its  music  I  never  forget, 

But  oft  when  alone  in  the  bloom  of  the  year 
I  think  —  is  the  nightingale  singing  there  yet  ? 

Are  the  roses  still  bright  by  the  calm  Bendemeer  ? ' 

—  MOORE,  Lalla  Eookh. 

SHIRAZ  lies  about  forty  miles  south  of  Persepolis,  but  the 
two  stages  of  the  journey  are  not  easy,  so  I  arranged  to  make 
my  start  from  the  desolate  and  ruined  halls  of  the  Achas- 
menians  in  time  to  reach  the  native  city  of  Hafiz  and  Saadi 
before  nightfall.  The  first  relay  of  horses  for  the  journey 
I  found  good,  which  proved  an  omen  for  the  second  ;  and  a 
series  of  long  and  hard  gallops,  with  only  occasional  halts  to 
adjust  the  load  on  the  pack-horse,  brought  my  little  cavalcade 
in  two  hours  to  the  end  of  the  hill-girt  marshy  plain  of  Merv- 
dasht.  At  no  great  distance  from  this  point  the  road  crosses 
a  bridge  over  'Bendemeer's  stream.'  This  watercourse  owes 
its  name  Band-i  Amir,  4  Dam  of  the  Amir,'  to  an  arched  cause- 
way  constructed  by  Azad  ad-Daulah,  who  governed  Fars  in 
the  tenth  century,  and  who  also  adorned  the  banks  of  the  river 
at  various  places  with  parks  and  palaces.1  The  latter,  unfortu- 
nately, have  vanished  generations  ago. 

A  few  miles  beyond  the  Bendemeer  bridge  the  village  of 
Zargan,  or  Zergun,  lies  nestled  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  where 

1  See  Yakut,  pp.  313,  480. 
Y  321 


322  SHIRAZ,    THE  HOME   OF   THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

the  chdpdr  khdnah  is  located,  and  here  a  change  of  horses  may 
be  obtained.  As  the  weather  was  warm  the  post-quarters  at 
the  time  had  been  moved  out  on  the  main  trail  in  the  plain 
and  were  lodged  in  a  couple  of  small  tents,  so  I  was  saved  the 
extra  ride  to  the  Jialting-place.  An  unexpected  delay,  however, 
occurred.  At  the  moment  when  we  were  about  to  change 
mounts  the  horses  stampeded  and  scampered  away  a  mile  or 
more  before  the  muleteer  could  recapture  them.  Meanwhile 
we  had  time  to  rest  and  console  ourselves  for  the  loss  of 
time  with  a  good  glass  of  tea.  The  half  hour  passed  quickly 
in  taking  notes  of  the  surroundings  and  in  observing  the  differ- 
ent types  among  the  natives,  for  the  inhabitants  of  Farsistan 
impressed  me  as  being  the  handsomest  Persians  I  had  seen.  I 
was  interested  also  in  the  primitive  tankards  of  goatskin  in  which 
the  water  for  the  tea  was  brought.  These  rude  vessels  were 
made  from  the  undressed  hide  of  a  goat,  with  the  animal's  hair 
left  on  the  outside  and  the  skin  drawn  tightly  around  a  wooden 
rim  and  a  circular  board  bottom  so  as  to  form  a  bucket,  while 
three  sticks  were  used  as  fastenings  to  give  firmness  to  the 
whole  and  as  props  for  the  uncouth  vessel  to  stand  upon.  I  pre- 
sume it  was  from  tankards  such  as  these  that  the  hardy  soldiers 
of  Cyrus  used  to  drink,  before  luxury  taught  them  the  use  of 
silver  beakers  and  the  accompanying  vices  which  sapped  away 
the  vigor  that  had  conquered  kingdoms. 

Zergun  remains  clear  in  my  memory  because  of  an  accident 
to  the  postilion,  who  was  seriously  kicked,  on  the  return 
journey,  by  my  pack-horse,  a  vicious  stallion,  as  most  of  the 
Persian  horses  are.  At  first  I  thought  that  the  man's  leg  was 
broken,  but  on  examining  the  wound  I  found  that  the  kneecap 
was  not  shattered,  though  I  fear  that  the  injury  to  the  bone 
may  have  proved  in  some  way  a  permanent  one. 

After  leaving  Zergun  the  hard  stage  of  the  road  began. 
Nature  has  thrown  up  a  barrier  on  the  north  to  protect  the 
approach  to  her  chosen  city  of  Shiraz,  or  perhaps  to  set  bounds 
to  the  too  enthusiastic  admiration  that  might  be  bestowed  upon 


KING  DARIUS  ON  HIS  THRONE 


BRIDGE  LEADING  INTO  SHIRAZ 


FROM  Z  ERG  UN   TO    THE   GATE   OF  SHIR  A  Z  323 

its  beauty.  This  obstacle  is  in  the  form  of  a  steep  and  inde- 
scribably stony  mountain  road  winding  up  and  down  and 
hither  and  thither,  past  ruined  forts  and  dilapidated  habita- 
tions, before  reaching  the  stream  of  Roknabad.  This  small  river 
was  so  named  after  the  Buyid  ruler,  Rokn  ad-Daulah  Hasan,  in 
the  tenth  century,  who  conducted  its  water  by  special  courses 
to  Shiraz  and  the  beautiful  suburb  Musalla.  It  owes  its  fame, 
however,  to  Hafiz,  who  sang  its  praises  and  compared  it  with 
the  rivers  of  Paradise.  But  the  Roknabad  has  now  shrunk  to 
so  small  a  measure  that  Hafiz  seems  guilty  of  a  strange  hyper- 
bole in  the  verse, 

1  In  Paradise  thou  wilt  not  find 

The  beauteous  banks  of  Roknabad 

And  the  rose-bowers  of  Musalla.' 

Nevertheless  the  landscape  about  the  stream  is  Arcadian,  and 
the  scenery  calls  forth  admiration  from  the  rider  as  he  winds 
his  way  downward  through  the  mountain  glade  that  lies  beyond 
the  stony  section  of  the  road. 

Suddenly  through  a  great  notch  in  the  mountains,  Shiraz  in 
all  its  beauty  bursts  upon  the  view.  It  seemed,  as  I  saw  it,  to 
rise  like  an  island  in  a  sea  of  emerald  bordered  in  the  distance 
by  purple  hills.  The  coloring  was  as  rich  as  it  was  harmoni- 
ous, and  it  seemed  no  longer  a  wonder  that  the  proud  Shirazis 
have  given  to  the  city  gateway  built  here  at  Nature's  grander 
portal  the  name  Tang-i  Alldhu  Akbar,  because  the  beholder,  on 
viewing  such  ,a  scene,  instinctively  cries  out  '  God  is  Most 
Great  ! ' l  The  panorama  was  a  magnificent  one ;  plain  and 
hills,  gardens  and  cypress-groves,  towers  and  walls,  domes  and 
spires,  were  bathed  in  a  mellow  light.  The  vision  grew  in 
beauty  as  I  rode  forward.  The  wayside  was  lined  with  myriad 
poppies;  the  gardens  were  abloom  with  the  jasmine  and  the 
rose,  for  it  was  the  beginning  of  May,  and  the  rose  had  begun 
to  blush  a  few  days  before  in  obedience  to  the  nightingale's 

1  See  also  the  descriptions  of  359,  and  Browne,  A  Year  Amongst 
Brugsch,  Im  Lande  der  Sonne,  p.  the  Persians,  p.  260. 


324  SHIRAZ,    THE  HOME   OF   THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

behest  4  her  sallow  cheek  to  incarnadine '  ;  the  trees  were  vocal 
with  the  note  of  the  bulbul :  the  setting  sun  threw  long  shadows 
from  the  tall  minarets  and  slender  sarv  trees ;  and  Shiraz  for 
the  instant  was  the  realization  of  that  Persian  elysium  of 
which  the  poets  sang,  and  it  awaited  only  the  flood  of  moon- 
light which  swept  in  after  sunset  to  complete  the  enchantment. 

I  confess  that  this  is  written  in  a  Persian  mood.  In  calmer 
moments  I  can  pause  to  consider  that  the  city  is  not  a  Paradise 
after  all.  Ahriman  has  marred  its  perfection  by  his  blight,  as 
he  did  in  Airan  Vej  of  old.  The  climate  at  times  becomes 
extremely  hot  and  exhausting,  as  the  zone  is  tropical,  and 
fevers  are  frequent  and  deadly,  since  hygienic  laws  are  fatally 
neglected  in  the  city.  The  very  architecture  of  the  buildings 
also  leaves  much  to  be  desired ;  and  the  Shirazis,  though  pleas- 
ure-loving and  clever,  have  a  traditional  reputation  for  bigotry 
and  conceit  —  not  out  of  keeping,  perhaps,  with  the  official  title 
of  the  town,  which  is  'Abode  of  Knowledge'  (Ddr  al-'-Ilm).1 
But  these  are  the  judgments  of  a  colder  moment  and  foreign 
to  the  proper  frame  of  mind  for  a  visit  to  Shiraz. 

Although  the  city  is  the  capital  of  the  historic  province  of 
Fars  and  by  right  of  inheritance  the  successor  to  the  glory  of 
Persepolis,  the  claim  which  Shiraz  can  make  to  eminence  by 
reason  of  antiquity  is  not  comparable  with  that  of  either 
Hamadan  or  Rei  in  Media  of  old.  The  general  location  of  the 
city,  it  is  true,  is  probably  an  ancient  one,  as  shown  by  the 
vestiges  of  Achsemenian  and  Sasanian  ruins  in  the  vicinity,  and 
Iranian  legend  and  Mohammedan  fable  are  even  ready  to 
ascribe  the  founding  of  the  city  to  a  son  of  Tahumars  or  to 
a  great-grandson  of  Noah,  but  the  more  sober  Moslem  authors 
say  that  Shiraz  was  'founded  or  rebuilt  by  Mohammed  ibn 
Yusuf  Takali  after  the  Rise  of  Islam '  in  the  seventh  century 
of  our  era.2  The  Arab  traveller  Ibn  Haukal  mentions  its 

1  On  this  title  see  Browne,  Episode  2  For  the  statement  regarding  Tahu- 

of  the  Bab,  2.  294,  n.  1,  364,  n.  2,  Cam-  mars,  see  Yakut,  p.  362,  and  for  the 
bridge,  1891.  more  conservative  view,  see  the  re- 


THE  NEW  MOSQUE  (MASJID-I  No)  AT  SHIRAZ 


OVERLOOKING  SHIRAZ 


THE  HISTORY  OF  SHIRAZ  325 

citadel  (Kohandiz)  in  the  tenth  century,  and  Yakut  (c.  A.D. 
1220)  states  that  the  Buyid  ruler  Abu  Kalanjar  Sultan  ad- 
Daulah  fortified  Shiraz  with  strong  walls  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury (A.H.  440). 1  These  fortifications,  however,  were  of  no 
avail  against  the  Mongol  conqueror  Tamerlane,  when  he 
sacked  the  town  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  later.  Successive 
rulers  restored  and  embellished  the  city,  but  their  work  was 
usually  destroyed  later  by  the  forces  of  nature  or  through  the 
capture  of  the  town  by  enemies.  Shiraz  owes  most  of  its 
architectural  beauty  to-day  to  Karim  Khan  (1751-1779),  who 
governed  it  as  regent  under  the  Safavid  dynasty  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Many  of  the  effects  of  his 
refining  influence  were  nullified  by  the  eunuch  ruler,  Agha 
Mohammed  Khan,  who  razed  its  stone  ramparts  to  the  ground, 
replaced  them  by  mud  walls,  and  reduced  the  city  to  a  rank 
unworthy  of  its  traditional  prestige. 

Among  the  architectural  monuments  of  Shiraz,  the  oldest  is 
a  mosque  which  dates  from  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth  century 
and  was  built  by  the  Safarid  dynast  Amr  ibn  Leith.  Belonging 
to  a  period  two  centuries  later  is  the  New  Mosque  (Masjid-i  No). 
Se'id  ibn  Zangi  (1195-1226)  reconstructed  this  out  of  his  own 
palace,  which  he  is  said  to  have  converted  to  the  service  of 
God  as  the  result  of  a  pious  vow  made  in  behalf  of  the  life 
of  his  son.2  The  flat-roofed  cloister  around  its  court  is  seen 
in  the  photograph  which  I  reproduce,  while  conspicuous  in  the 
background  is  the  faience-traced  dome  of  Shah  Chiragh,  the 
beauty  of  which  is  unfortunately  impaired  by  a  popular  com- 
parison of  its  swelling  cupola  with  the  head  of  some  gigantic 
asparagus.  Beneath  its  vaulted  roof  lie  the  remains  of  one 

marks  of  Mustaufi,  cited  by  Barbier  de   Meynard,  Diet.  geog.  p.  362,   n., 

de  Meynard,  Diet.  geog.  de  la  Perse,  and    Browne,    Literary    History    of 

p.  362  n.  Persia,    p.    352.       Elbe"     and    Horn, 

1  Ibn  Haukal,   tr.  Ouseley,  p.  93,  Grundr.    iran.    Philol.    2.    218,    560, 
and  Yakut,  p.  365.  661,  give  the  dates  of  Amr  ibn  Leith 

2  See  Curzon,  Persia,  2.   102,  and  as  A.D.  878-900. 
compare  Mustaufi,   cited  by  Barbier 


326  SHIRAZ,    THE  HOME   OF   THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

of  the  sons  of  Imam  Musa,  a  champion  of  Islam.1  Yet  in 
architectural  merit  neither  this  nor  any  of  the  other  religious 
edifices,  madrasahs,  mausoleums,  or  baths  can  rival  those  of 
several  other  cities  in  Persia.  The  grand  bazaar,  Bdzdr-i  Vakil, 
4  Regent's  Bazaar,'  is  a  fine  structure,  due  again  to  the  munifi- 
cence of  Karim  Khan,  and  it  carries  on  a  fairly  flourishing  trade; 
but  the  caravansarais-  are  not  particularly  spacious,  nor  are  the 
streets  of  the  city  beautiful ;  the  Ark,  or  Citadel,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  rather  imposing.  The  best-constructed  of  the  modern 
buildings  in  the  town  is  that  occupied  by  the  offices  of  the 
Indo-European  Telegraph  Company.  It  was  formerly  a  palace 
and  has  a  fine  courtyard  of  stone,  while  its  hallways  and  roomy 
chambers  seemed  to  me  Western  in  their  style  of  architecture 
rather  than  Eastern.2  This  touch  of  the  West  brought  me  in 
another  way  also  nearer  home,  for  I  found  an  opportunity  to 
send  a  cablegram  to  America  —  a  welcome  experience  after 
having  been  cut  off  from  direct  communication  with  home 
since  I  left  Urumiah. 

Buildings  of  brick,  mortar,  and  stone  are  not  the  glory  of 
Shiraz  ;  it  owes  its  renown  rather  to  the  causes  which  I  shall  now 
enumerate.  In  the  first  place  the  natural  beauty  of  its  environs 
is  greatly  enhanced  by  cultivation  and  by  art.  The  entire 
plain  surrounding  the  city  is  well  cultivated,  and  owing  to  its 
tropical  situation  (for  Shiraz  is  nearer  to  the  equator  than  is 
the  northern  part  of  India)  it  yields  abundantly  to  tillage  and 
irrigation.  The  vineyards  around  the  city  produce  the  best 
wine  in  Persia,  a  product  for  which  Shiraz  has  ever  been 
famous.  There  are  two  varieties  of  this  wine,  a  red  and  a 
white ;  the  taste  of  the  white  wine  reminded  me  somewhat  of  a 
Marsala. 

The  gardens  and  rose-bowers  of  Shiraz  are  still  more  famous. 
Within  the  city  and  on  its  outskirts  there  are  dozens  of  these 

1  On  the  latter  point  compare  also       this  building,  see  Weeks,    From 
Curzon,  Persia,  2.  102.  Black  Sea,  p.  116. 

2  For  some  of  the  artistic  points  of 


GARDENS  AND   ROSE-BOWERS  327 

pleasure-grounds,  some  of  which  still  retain  their  beauty 
despite  the  neglect  into  which  they  have  fallen.  The  Persian 
garden  in  general  is  somewhat  different  from  its  counterpart  in 
other  lands  and  is  more  like  an  orchard,  a  horticultural 
enclosure,  than  a  garden  in  the  narrower  landscape  sense  ;  in 
fact  the  ordinary  Persian  word  for  '  garden,'  Idgh,  may  some- 
times best  be  rendered  by  our  word  4  orchard,'  with  little  of  the 
connotation  of  4  flower-garden.'  Instead  of  being  winding  paths, 
the  walks  are  usually  laid  out  in  straight  lines,  with  brick  and 
tile  borders,  while  terraces  also  are  constructed  whenever  possi- 
ble, as  in  our  own  gardens,  and  finished  with  stonework  and 
masonry.  A  reservoir  of  water,  even  if  its  basin  be  only  a 
small  tank,  necessarily  graces  the  area,  and  luxury  may  add 
a  fountain  and  cascades  falling  over  stone  slabs,  but  water  is  a 
precious  article,  and  lavishness  in  this  regard  is  equivalent  to 
extravagance,  even  if  nature  responds  liberally  to  the  smallest 
drop  of  the  precious  liquid.  Shade  trees  like  the  poplar 
(kalam),  willow  (bid),  cypress  (sarv),  plane  tree  or  sycamore 
(chinar),  line  the  walks  or  mark  off  the  grass-plots,  while  the 
shrubbery  varies  considerably  according  to  the  latitude.1 

The  main  road  into  Shiraz  from  the  Allahu  Akbar  Gate,  is 
lined  on  either  side  with  gardens,  two  of  which  on  the  east, 
the  Ohahal  Tan,  'Forty  Bodies,'  and  the  Haft  Tan,  'Seven 
Bodies,'  are  rather  large  pleasure-groves  and  a  resort  for 
dervishes,  and  may  be  seen  in  the  photographic  reproduc- 
tion, with  the  Tomb  of  Hafiz  in  the  background.2  On  the 
western  side  there  are  corresponding  enclosures,  and  one  of 
the  most  characteristic  of  these  is  the  BdgJi-i  Takht,  4  Garden 
of  the  Throne,'  to  which  I  paid  a  special  visit.  It  stands  on 
rising  ground  overlooking  the  city  from  the  northwest,  and 
was  laid  out  by  the  victorious  Kajar  ruler  Agha  Mohammed 

1  For    illustrations  of  Persian  gar-          2  See  also  the  comments  of  E.  G. 

dens,  see  Mumf ord,  Glimpses  of  Mod-  Browne,  A  Year  Amongst  the  Persians, 

ern  Persia,  in  House,  and  Garden,  2.  p.  278. 
175-191,  360-373,  Philadelphia,   1902. 


328  SHIRAZ,    THE  HOME   OF  THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

Khan,  who  constructed  it  on  the  site  of  an  older  garden 
admirably  adapted  for  the  purpose  by  its  location.  Terrace 
rises  above  terrace,  and  fountain,  channel,  and  stream  pour 
their  waters  in  cascades  over  slabs  of  marble  into  reservoirs 
faced  with  stone.  The  watercourses  are  edged  with  masonry, 
and  the  walks  bordered  with  cypress  and  orange  trees.  At  the 
time  of  my  visit  the  large  reservoir  in  the  centre  was  full, 
though  the  cascades  no  longer  flowed,  and  I  understand  that  in 
the  drought  of  summer  everything  dries  up  and  dust  prevails 
everywhere.  The  walls  around  the  enclosure  and  leading  up 
the  terraces  were  not  kept  up  and  were  consequently  beginning 
to  crumble,  while  the  pavilion  which  once  graced  the  upper 
terrace  was  deserted  and  in  ruins.  Yet  there  remained  enough 
of  by-gone  luxury  to  tell  how  beautiful  this  little  Luxembourg 
must  have  been  formerly,  and  it  still  offers  to  the  Shirazi  an 
attractive  place  to  visit  in  the  cool  of  the  evening.1 

The  true  renown  of  Shiraz,  as  I  have  implied,  rests  not  upon 
the  beauties  of  nature,  which  I  have  been  describing,  but  upon 
the  fame  of  her  poets  and  the  distinguished  men  she  has  given 
to  Iran.  Not  the  least  known  among  the  latter  class  is  one  of 
recent  memory,  the  Bab,  whose  religious  reform  in  the  past 
century  I  have  mentioned  in  an  earlier  chapter.2  The  list  of 
notable  Shirazis  was  already  a  long  one  when  Yakut  wrote, 
seven  hundred  years  ago  (c.  A.D.  1220),  yet  even  he  had  not 
lived  to  be  aware  of  the  future  greatness  of  his  younger  con- 
temporary, Saadi,  or  to  know  that  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
lyrists,  Hafiz,  would  be  born  in  Shiraz. 

Hafiz,  whose  birth  occurred  some  time  in  the  first  half  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  is  known  almost  as  well,  by  name  at  least, 
in  the  West  as  he  is  in  the  East,  where  every  Persian  is  familiar 
with  his  odes,  which  have  made  Shiraz  a  synonym  for  poetic 
inspiration.  The  beauty  of  his  language,  the  charm  of  his 

1  For  descriptions  of  the  gardens,      the  Persians,  p.  279  ;  Curzon,  Persia, 
see  also  Weeks,  From  the  Black  Sea,      2.  104. 
p.   116  ;     Browne,   A    Year  Amongst          2  See  pp.  48-50,  above. 


THE  PERSIAN  POET  HAFIZ  329 

style,  the  sweet  flow  of  his  verse,  and  the  passionate  expres- 
sion of  his  feeling,  whether  it  be  in  the  lyrical  outpouring  of  his 
own  love,  or  in  the  mystic  ecstasy  of  a  spiritual  devotion  veiled 
under  the  guise  of  material  images,  entitle  Hafiz  to  rank  even 
in  the  Occident  as  a  poet's  poet  and  to  hold  a  prominent  place 
in  the  best  literature  of  the  world.1  His  youth  may  have  been 
Anacreontic,  but  he  must  have  been  a  faithful  student,  as  he 
won  by  his  memory  and  learning  the  title  Hafiz,  '  mindful,'  a 
distinction  bestowed  only  upon  those  who  knew  the  entire  Koran 
and  its  interpretation  by  heart,  and  he  received  also  an  appoint- 
ment as  instructor  to  the  family  of  the  ruling  House  of  Muzaf- 
far,  as  well  as  a  position  in  the  royal  madrasah,  which  was 
founded  expressly  for  him.  Even  a  prince  of  India,  Mahmud 
Shah  Bahmani  of  the  Deccan,  invited  him  to  his  court  as  a 
permanent  guest.  Hafiz  accepted  the  invitation  and  started 
on  the  journey,  but  proved  unequal  to  facing  the  perils  of  a 
journey  by  sea,  and  abandoned  his  plan,  excusing  himself 
by  writing  a  handsome  panegyric  of  his  would-be  patron,  and 
delicately  urging  his  preference  for  a  life  amid  the  enchant- 
ments of  Shiraz.  According  to  an  interesting  tradition,  further- 
more, even  the  stern  conqueror  Tamerlane  came  under  the  charm 
of  Hafiz's  verse,  but  scholars  generally  discountenance  the 
legend  as  they  in  the  same  manner  reject  the  fable  that  he 
received  poetic  inspiration  from  a  cup  of  nectar  placed  to  his 
lips  by  an  aged  man  as  a  reward  for  his  devotion  to  the  love 
of  a  beauteous  maiden.2 

Hafiz  was  prolific  as  a  writer  and  the  manuscripts  and 
printed  editions  of  his  works  contain  more  than  five  hundred 
ghazals,  or  odes,  which  have  his  name  deftly  woven  into  the 
last  stanza  of  each.  Regarding  the  poetic  merit  of  his  verses 
there  is  no  question,  but  there  exists,  as  there  existed  even  in 
his  lifetime,  a  diversity  of  opinion  regarding  the  interpretation 

1  See  my  article  « Hafiz,1  in  War-  2  See    Sir   Gore    Ouseley,    Notices 

ner's  Library  of  the  World's  Best  Lit-  of  the  Persian  Poets,  pp.  35-37,  Lon- 
erature,  12. 6793-6806,  New  York,  1897.  don,  1846. 


330  SHIRAZ,    THE  HOME   OF   THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

of  his  poetry  —  whether  it  is  to  be  taken  in  a  literal  or  in 
a  spiritual  sense.  Some  readers  see  in  his  praises  of  love  and 
wine,  of  musky  tresses  and  cypress  forms,  the  passion  of  an 
Ovid  or  a  Tibullus ;  but  others,  especially  some  of  his  Oriental 
admirers,  read  beneath  those  physical  images  the  spiritual 
thoughts  of  Divine  Love  and  the  Soul.  Wine  is  the  spirit, 
not  the  juice  of  the  grape,  and  the  cup  drained  in  the  tavern 
is  but  a  draught  of  that  self-oblivion  which  brings  one  into 
complete  union  with  the  supreme  essence.  There  is  undeni- 
able truth  in  the  possibility  of  so  interpreting  the  verses 
according  to  the  doctrines  of  Sufiism,  just  as  there  is  in  the 
mystic  interpretation  of  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  parallels 
might  even  be  cited  from  the  poems  of  Donne,  Vaughan,  and 
Crashaw,  in  the  English  literature  of  the  seventeenth  century ; 
but  it  is  equally  true  that  some  of  the  verses  of  Hafiz,  per- 
haps those  of  his  youth,  can  hardly  allow  of  anything  but  a 
material  and  passionate  interpretation.  As  an  illustration  of 
his  lyrical  style  I  choose  an  ode  translated  by  the  late  Professor 
Cowell,  who  taught  4  Omar'  FitzGerald  his  Persian. 

'  The  fairest  of  roses  no  longer  is  fair, 
If  she  who  possesses  my  heart  is  not  there; 
If  wine,  the  bright  ruby,  be  ever  forgot, 
The  spring  hath  no  charms  and  delighteth  us  not ; 
The  walks  of  the  garden  are  lonely  and  drear, 
If  the  song  of  the  nightingale  strikes  not  my  ear. 
The  cypress  may  wave,  and  the  roses  may  bloom, 
But  in  vain  if  the  queen  of  my  heart  does  not  come ; 
The  wine  and  the  roses  are  charming,  I  own, 
But  if  she  is  absent,  the  charms  are  all  gone. 
The  most  lovely  designs  which  art  can  devise, 
Without  my  fair  mistress  delight  not  my  eyes. 
O  Hafiz,  thy  life  is  but  useless  at  best, 
Scarce  worth  a  nivar  to  be  thrown  to  a  guest.' l 

The  peculiar  structure  of  Hafiz's  verse  and  his  repetition  of 
rhymes  has  been  well  imitated  in  some  English  renderings  by 
Mr.  Walter  Leaf.     I  reproduce  the  latter's  translation  of  one 
1  See  Professor  Cowell's  Life  and  Letters,  p.  24,  London,  1904. 


CULTIVATED  FIELDS  AROUND  SHIRAZ 


GARDENS  AROUND  SHIRAZ 


THE  POETRY  OF  HAFIZ  331 

of  the  poet's  best-known  odes,  a  favorite  especially  because  of 
its  refrain  tazah  bah  tazah,  no  bah  no. 

'Minstrel,  awake  the  sound  of  glee,  joyous  and  eager,  fresh  and  free  ; 
Fill  me  a  bumper  bounteously,  joyous  and  eager,  fresh  and  free. 

O  for  a  bower  and  one  beside,  delicate,  dainty,  there  to  hide ; 
Kisses  at  will  to  seize  and  be  joyous  and  eager,  fresh  and  free. 

Sweet  is  my  dear,  a  thief  of  hearts ;  bravery,  beauty,  saucy  arts, 
Odours  and  unguents,  all  for  me,  joyous  and  eager,  fresh  and  free. 

How  shall  the  fruit  of  life  be  thine,  if  thou  refuse  the  fruitful  vine? 
Drink  of  the  wine  and  pledge  with  me,  joyous  and  eager,  fresh  and  free. 

Call  me  my  Saki  silver-limbed,  bring  me  my  goblet  silver-rimmed; 
Fain  would  I  fill  and  drink  to  thee,  joyous  and  eager,  fresh  and  free. 

Wind  of  the  West,  if  e'er  thou  roam,  pass  on  the  way  my  fairy's  home, 
Whisper  of  Hafiz  am'rously,  joyous  and  eager,  fresh  and  free.' 1 

The  opponents  of  Hafiz  maintained  that  his  philosophy  of 
life  was  too  much  akin  to  free-thinking  and  his  scorn  of  the  out- 
ward semblances  of  piety  too  undisguised,  to  say  nothing  of  lax 
verses  on  wine-bibbing  and  odes  perfumed  with  the  tresses  of 
his  loves,  so  that  when  he  died,  in  1389,  this  feeling  found  open 
expression  among  the  Mullahs,  who  refused  to  accord  to  his 
remains  the  last  rites  due  to  a  true  Mohammedan.  A  contro- 
versy arose,  and  to  settle  the  question  it  was  agreed  to  leave  the 
solution  to  the  poet's  own  writings.  A  number  of  his  verses 
were  taken  at  random  and  a  child  was  selected  to  draw  one  of 
these  out  of  an  urn.  Happily  the  stanza  read :  — 

*  Forbear  thou  not  to  shed  a  tear 
Compassionate  on  Hafiz'  bier, 
For  know  that  though  now  deeply  'mersed  in  sin 
To  Paradise  he  yet  shall  enter  in.'  2 

The  omen  was  favorable  ;  Hafiz  was  granted  a  Mohammedan 
burial,  and  his  tomb,  the  Hafiziah,  has  since  become  a  shrine 
for  pilgrims  from  far  and  near. 

1  Leaf,  Versions  from  Hafiz,  an  Es-      1898;  cf.  also  Payne,  Hafiz,  1.  45. 
say  in  Persian  Metre,  p.  23,  London,          2  Ode  60.  7 ;  cf.  Payne,  Hafiz,  1.  76. 


332  SHIRAZ,    THE  HOME   OF   THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

The  sepulchre  lies  about  two  miles  northeast  of  the  city,  and 
a  short  gallop,  after  we  leave  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  brings 
us  to  the  walled  enclosure  that  surrounds  it.  Passing  through 
the  gateway  we  find  ourselves  within  a  spacious  square  bordered 
on  three  sides  by  low  buildings,  which  afford  shelter  for  priests, 
dervishes,  and  pilgrims  ;  the  area  is  shaded  by  poplars,  cypresses, 
and  maples,  and  beneath  their  shadows  a  small  reservoir  is 
seen.  The  tomb  of  Hafiz  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  garden 
and  is  surrounded  by  a  number  of  graves,  since  burial  near  the 
poet's  dust  is  now  a  special  privilege.  The  place  is  well  kept 
up,  being  no  longer  neglected  as  when  Ker  Porter  described  it 
in  the  last  century,1  and  the  increasing  number  of  pilgrims  that 
yearly  visit  the  shrine  speaks  for  the  growing  fame  of  the  poet,  if 
not  of  orthodox  Islam.  A  handsome  oblong  block  of  marble 
covers  the  grave  and  takes  the  place  of  the  original  slab,  which 
Karim  Khan  is  said  to  have  placed  in  the  Jahan  Namah  Garden 
when  he  replaced  the  stone  by  the  present  sarcophagus.2  The 
block  is  beautifully  carved  with  verses  from  the  poet's  writings 
and  at  the  top  is  an  Arabic  inscription,  the  tenor  of  which  is 
the  transitory  character  of  human  things  and  the  eternal  nature 
of  God ;  while  at  the  bottom  is  added  the  date  of  the  poet's 
death,  which  is  given  as  the  year  1389  (A.H.  791). 3  The  pres- 
ent governor  of  Shiraz  has  taken  pains  to  have  the  sepulchre 
protected  by  a  large  iron  grating  which  is  more  imposing  than 
the  old  metal  cage  that  formerly  enclosed  it,  and  the  scroll- 
work and  design  show  some  artistic  taste.  The  stanchions  and 
corner-posts,  however,  are  iron  telegraph  poles,  received  from 
the  Indo-European  Telegraph  Company,  and  the  Shirazis 
seemed  to  be  almost  as  proud  of  these  and  of  the  little  metal 
flags  that  decorate  the  top,  as  of  the  inscribed  slab  over  the 
poet's  dust. 

1  See  Ker  Porter,   Travels,  1.  694-  2  See  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  109. 

695.     Sir  Gore  Ouseley    (Notices  of  8  For  the  inscriptions  see  Browne, 

the  Persian  Poets,  p.  40,  London,  1846)  A  Year  Amongst  the  Persians,  pp.  280- 

spoke  of  the  grave  as  being  '  in  excel-  281. 
lent  order'  when  he  saw  it  in  1811. 


THE   TOMBS   OF  HAFIZ   AND   SAADI  333 

The  tomb  of  Saadi  lies  about  a  mile  farther  northward  in  a 
slight  hollow  of  the  plain  and  is  called  the  Saadiah.  Like  the 
tomb  of  Hafiz,  it  is  in  an  enclosed  garden,  and  a  grove  of  pop- 
lars, cypresses,  fragrant  shrubs,  and  rose  bushes  surrounds  the 
building  which  contains  the  remains  of  Persia's  great  moralist 
and  poet.  It  is  a  fitting  resting-place  for  one  who  gave  the 
titles  of  '  Rose  Garden '  ( G-ulistdn)  and  4  Garden  of  Perfume ' 
(Bostdri)  to  his  two  chief  works.  Within  this  precinct  Saadi 
alone  is  buried  —  at  least  I  saw  no  other  graves  —  and  the 
sepulchre  itself  is  now  enclosed  within  a  building.  The  cham- 
ber in  which  the  sarcophagus  stands  is  entered  through  a  stout 
door,  and  the  poet's  remains  lie  in  a  heavy  stone  case  surrounded 
by  a  metal  network.  The  room  itself  is  without  decoration, 
but  is  richly  carpeted  with  a  Persian  rug,  on  which  the  foot 
falls  noiselessly  as  one  moves  about  the  sarcophagus  to  do  hom- 
age to  the  memory  of  the  dead.  The  same  Arabic  inscription 
about  the  immutability  of  God,  as  on  the  grave  of  Hafiz,  is 
chiselled  on  the  stone,  and  verses  are  added  from  Saadi's  own 
poems,  a  handsome  manuscript  of  which  is  preserved  in  the 
building. 

Saadi's  life  was  a  long  and  eventful  one.  Born  in  1181  or 
1184,  or  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  before  Hafiz,  he  is  said  to 
have  rounded  out  a  full  fivescore  and  more  of  years,  as  his 
death  is  recorded  as  having  taken  place  in  A.D.  1291.  Although 
we  may  be  uncertain  with  regard  to  dates,  we  know  that  his 
life  was  one  of  many  experiences,  and  that  he  was  a  man  widely 
travelled.  He  had  journeyed  east,  west,  north,  and  south 
throughout  his  own  country,  and  had  made  more  than  a  dozen 
pilgrimages  to  the  shrine  at  Mecca,  besides  travelling  in  India, 
Asia  Minor,  and  Africa.  On  one  occasion  he  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Crusaders  in  Tripolis,  enslaved,  and  set  to 
digging  in  the  trenches.  The  story  goes  that  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant of  Aleppo  took  compassion  on  his  wretched  plight,  ran- 
somed him  for  ten  dinars,  and  later  gave  him  his  daughter  in 
marriage  with  a  dowry  of  a  hundred  dinars.  The  marriage 


334  SHIRAZ,   THE  HOME   OF   THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

did  not  prove  a  happy  one,  owing  to  the  wife's  bad  temper, 
and  once  she  reviled  him  with  the  reproach :  4  Art  thou  not 
the  slave  whom  my  father  bought  for  ten  dinars  ? '  4  Yes,' 
replied  Saadi,  4  he  ransomed  me  for  ten  dinars  and  sold  me  to 
you  for  a  hundred.'  And  he  added  in  verse  :  — 

'  I've  heard  that  a  man  of  high  degree 
From  a  wolf's  teeth  and  claws  a  lamb  set  free. 
That  night  its  throat  he  severed  with  a  knife, 
When  thus  complained  the  lamb's  departing  life  : 
"  Thou  from  the  wolf  didst  save  me  then  ;  but  now 
Too  plainly  I  perceive  the  wolf  art  thou."  ' * 

As  Saadi  in  the  Gulistan  tells  the  story  about  himself,  it  can 
hardly  be  thought  gossipy  to  repeat  it. 

As  a  literary  work  Saadi's  Gulistan  is  a  storehouse  of  anec- 
dotes as  well  as  wise  maxims,  good  counsel,  and  poetic  thought. 
In  this  didactic  work  of  mingled  prose  and  verse  the  author 
himself  says  that  4the  discourse  is  combined  with  pleasantry 
and  cheerful  wit,  the  pearls  of  grave  counsel  are  strung  on  the 
thread  of  diction,  and  the  bitter  medicine  of  advice  is  blended 
with  the  honey  of  mirthful  humor.'  Some  of  the  stories  are  truly 
amusing,  and  the  substance  of  one  or  two  is  worth  giving  as  an 
example  of  Oriental  humor,  for  the  Persians  possess  a  sense  of 
humor,  with  which  they  are  not  always  credited.  Almost 
modern  in  its  point  is  the  anecdote  of  the  man  whose  disagree- 
able voice  in  reciting  his  prayers  in  the  mosque  was  annoying 
to  everybody.  One  day  some  one  asked  him  how  much  he 
was  paid  for  reciting.  4  Paid ! '  he  responded,  '  I  am  not  paid ! 
I  recite  for  the  sake  of  Allah ! '  4  Then,'  replied  the  other, 
4  for  Allah's  sake  don't ! ' 

A  sequel  in  the  same  vein  is  told  by  Saadi  to  prove  the 
occasional  value  of  a  disagreeable  voice.  A  certain  muezzin 
in  the  mosque  had  so  harsh  a  voice  that  his  call  to  prayer  only 
kept  the  worshippers  away  from  service.  The  prince  who  was 
the  patron  of  the  mosque,  being  tender-hearted  and  not  wish- 
1  Saadi,  Gulistan,  tr.  Eastwick,  pp.  101-102,  2d  ed.,  London,  1880. 


SOME  ANECDOTES  FROM  SAADI  335 

ing  to  offend  the  man,  gave  him  ten  dinars  to  go  somewhere 
else,  and  the  gift  was  gladly  accepted.  Some  time  afterward 
the  fellow  returned  to  the  prince  and  complained  that  an 
injustice  had  been  done  him  by  the  smallness  of  the  donation: 
4  for,'  said  he,  4  at  the  place  where  I  now  am,  they  offered  me 
twenty  dinars  to  go  somewhere  else  and  I'll  not  accept  it.' 
4  Oh,'  laughed  the  prince, 4  don't  accept  it,  for  if  you  stay  longer 
they  will  be  glad  to  offer  you  fifty.' 

A  single  other  illustration  of  Persian  humor  from  Saadi  may 
be  added.  The  point  of  the  story  is  this :  A  man  who  was 
suffering  from  inflamed  eyes  went  to  a  horse-doctor  for  treat- 
ment. The  veterinary  gave  him  some  of  the  salve  that  he  used 
on  animals  and  the  man  lost  his  eyesight.  He  then  brought 
a  suit  in  court  to  recover  damages.  The  judge,  after  weighing 
the  evidence  in  the  case,  handed  down  his  decision  as  follows  : 
4  There  are  no  damages  to  be  recovered  ;  the  man  would  never 
have  gone  to  a  veterinary  if  he  had  not  been  an  ass ! ' 

This  and  a  score  of  other  instances  might  be  cited  to  show 
the  light  touch  of  Saadi's  wit  beside  his  acknowledged  poetic 
talents.  His  rare  gift  as  a  poet  is  seen  particularly  in  the 
Bostan  and  in  the  Divan,  a  collection  of  his  short  poems  in 
the  lyrical  strain,  which  justify  his  title  of  the  4  Nightingale  of 
Persia.'  Some  of  the  metrical  stanzas  in  the  Gulistan  are 
gems  of  poetic  thought,  and  as  an  example  of  Saadi's  fancy  I 
quote  from  it  the  following  lines,  which  show  his  fineness  of 
imagination  and  delicacy  of  touch. 

*  I  saw  some  handfuls  of  the  rose  in  bloom, 
With  bands  of  grass  suspended  from  a  dome. 
I  said,  "  What  means  this  worthless  grass,  that  it 
Should  in  the  roses'  fairy  circle  sit?" 
Then  wept  the  grass,  and  said,  "  Be  still !  and  know, 
The  kind  their  old  associates  ne'er  forego. 
Mine  is  no  beauty,  here,  or  fragrance  —  true; 
But  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord  I  grew."  ' x 

The  hills  beyond  the  grave  of  Saadi  and  to  the  east  of  the 
1  Saadi,  Gulistan,  tr.  East  wick,  p.  115. 


336  SHIRAZ,    THE  HOME   OF   THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

Allahu  Akbar  Gate  possess  one  or  two  points  of  interest  that 
may  be  mentioned.  One  of  these  is  a  large  hollow  in  the  rock, 
partly  natural  and  partly  artificial,  called  from  its  shape  the 
4  Cradle  of  the  Demon '  (Kahvdrdh-i  Dlv),  although  its  precise 
origin  is  not  known;  the  other  is  a  ruined  structure  situated 
somewhat  east  of  it  and  known  as  '  Bandar's  Fortress  '  (Kal'ah-i 
Bandar),  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  remains  of  a  Sasanian 
castle.  Near  this  are  two  very  deep  wells,  one  of  which  is 
known  as  4  Ali's  Well '  (Chdh-i  Murtazah  All)  and  described  as 
a  pool  at  the  bottom  of  a  series  of  steps  surmounted  by  a  build- 
ing which  gives  the  place  the  character  of  a  shrine.  It  is  said 
to  occupy  the  place  of  an  old  fire-temple,  and  the  story  goes 
that  the  well  sprang  up  as  a  miracle  to  quench  the  flame  of  the 
old  Zoroastrian  faith  when  the  true  religion  of  Mohammed 
came  into  Persia.1  There  are  also  some  Achsemenian  remains 
about  four  miles  southeast  of  Shiraz  and  still  farther  beyond 
there  are  some  sculptures  of  Sasanian  kings  who  were  Zoroas- 
trians,  but  I  did  not  inspect  them.2 

My  allusion  to  Zoroastrianism  leads  me  to  speak  of  the  so- 
called  Gabars,  or  fire-worshippers,  of  Shiraz,  as  the  city  knew 
only  their  religion  in  Sasanian  times,  whereas  scarcely  fifty  of 
their  faith  now  live  there.3  I  took  the  earliest  opportunity  of 
sending  to  Rustam  Shah  Jahan,  the  leading  merchant  among 
them,  the  letter  I  carried  from  his  brother  in  Isfahan.4  He 
occupied  a  shop  adjoining  the  main  bazaar,  and  as  I  entered  the 
room  behind  the  outside  booth,  I  found  a  number  of  persons 

1  See  Browne,  A  Year  Amongst  the  and  Coste,  Voyage  en  Perse,  Ancienne, 
Persians,  p.  286  ;  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  1.  pi.  55,  and  photographed  by  Stolze, 
108  ;  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  1.  698.  Persepolis,  2.  pi.  96 ;  cf.  also  Perrot 

2  The    earliest   notice  that  I  have  and  Chipiez,  Histoire  de  VArt,  5.  754. 
seen  of  these  ancient  monuments  is          3  The  precise  number  at  the  time  of 
inMasudi(x.D.  843),  Les  Prairies  a"1  Or,  my  visit  was    42,    according   to    the 
ed.  Barbier  de  Meynard,  4.  79.     They  statistics  I  subsequently  obtained  at 
have  been  described  by  various  writers,  Teheran  from  the    Secretary   of    the 
among  them  Ker  Porter,  Travels,  1.  Society  for  the  Amelioration  of  the 
698-706,  and  Curzon,  Persia,  2.  95,  n.  Persian  Zoroastrians. 

2,  and  have  been  drawn  by  Flandin  *  See  pp.  274-275,  above. 


THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF  SHIRAZ  337 

gathered  there.  Remembering  my  Isfahan  experience  and 
knowing  that  Shiraz  was  Islamitic  to  the  extreme  of  fanati- 
cism (so  much  so,  that  some  of  my  friends  later  expressed  sur- 
prise that  my  body-servant  did  not  meet  with  persecution  there, 
as  he  was  a  Christian  convert  from  Mohammedanism),  I  began 
by  making  commonplace  observations  and  inquiries  in  Oriental 
style,  until  I  should  be  surer  of  my  ground,  and  only  indirectly 
indicating  my  interest  in  the  religion.  In  this  case,  however, 
I  found  there  was  not  the  slightest  occasion  for  reserve,  as  my 
host  Rustam  had  been  prepared  by  his  brother's  letter,  and 
he  told  me  that  all  the  persons  who  were  present  were  Zoro- 
astrians,  so  that  we  could  speak  without  hesitation  on  religious 
matters. 

From  the  conversation  I  learned  that  the  Zoroastrian 
community  in  Shiraz  keep  up  their  religious  observances  and 
beliefs,  in  a  general  sort  of  way,  but  not  so  strictly  as  at  Yezd 
and  Kerman.  They  have  no  regular  dastur,  or  High  Priest, 
nor  have  they  any  fire-temple,  whereas  in  antiquity  there  must 
have  been  at  least  one  pyrseum  at  Shiraz,  as  is  shown  by  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  Atash  Kadah  which  a  Mohammedan 
pointed  out  to  me  on  the  hill  overlooking  the  city.  No 
dakhmah,  moreover,  is  kept  up  by  the  Zoroastrians  of  Shiraz, 
although  this  could  hardly  be  expected  in  so  small  a  community 
and  it  is  their  practice  to  inter  the  body  in  the  earth,  placing 
stones  around  it  and  over  it.  They  possess  no  manuscripts 
of  the  Avesta,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  but  they  encouraged 
me  in  my  hope  of  rinding  copies  at  Yezd,  the  chief  centre  of 
the  Persian  Zoroastrians,  and  told  me  that  I  would  there  meet 
the  Chief  Priest  of  the  Faith  and  be  able  to  learn  from  him 
more  about  religious  matters.  Despite  their  lack  of  knowledge 
concerning  their  creed  —  and  it  would  be  unreasonable,  per- 
haps, to  expect  merchants  and  traders  to  possess  technical 
information  on  theological  points  —  I  was  favorably  impressed 
by  these  believers  in  Ormazd.  They  seemed  honest  and 
thrifty,  and  fairly  prosperous,  considering  the  fact  that  they 


338  SHIRAZ,    THE  HOME   OF   THE  PERSIAN  POETS 

have  had  to  live  for  over  a  thousand  years  under  restriction 
and  persecution,  and  they  appeared  also  to  cultivate  the 
sterling  virtues  which  their  prophet  of  old  enjoined.  This 
fact  made  me  more  anxious  than  ever  to  visit  Yezd,  so  I  began 
my  preparations  for  departure  on  the  third  day,  bidding  adieu 
to  them  and  to  my  Christian  hosts  at  the  English  mission,  as 
well  as  to  other  friends. 


CHAPTER   XXII 
FROM  SHIRAZ   TO   YEZD 

'  From  Shiraz  to  Yezd  is  seventy -four  farsakhs.' 

—  IBN  HAUKAL,  Geography,  tr.  Ouseley,  p.  111. 

IT  was  toward  mid-day  on  the  sixth  of  May,  and  the  sun 
was  scorching  hot,  when  I  set  out  from  Shiraz  on  my  way  to 
the  city  of  Yezd  to  visit  the  Zoroastrians  in  that  ancient  strong- 
hold of  the  faith.  I  was  provided  with  a  letter  from  the  Per- 
sian governor  of  Shiraz,  directing  that  certain  privileges  and 
attentions  be  extended  to  me  on  the  journey,  and  was  furnished 
with  an  authorization  from  the  Director  General  of  the  Per- 
sian Customs  and  Post,  enabling  me  to  procure  horses  or  other 
means  of  transport  over  portions  of  the  route  that  had  not  yet 
been  formally  laid  out.  As  I  knew  on  my  southward  journey 
that  I  should  have  to  travel  for  three  days  over  the  same  route 
by  which  I  had  come  from  Pasargadae  to  Shiraz  I  had  taken 
the  precaution  to  pave  the  way  with  silver.  The  investment  was 
expensive,  but  it  proved  to  have  been  worth  making,  for  it  quick- 
ened the  pace  of  the  post-horses  and  hastened  the  movements  o/ 
the  men  at  the  halting-places,  and  haste  is  a  rare  thing  in  Persia. 
By  this  expenditure,  by  liberal  use  of  whip  and  spur,  and  by 
reducing  the  time  of  sleep  at  night  to  three  or  four  hours,  with 
cat-naps  stolen  at  odd  moments  during  the  day,  I  was  able  to 
shorten  the  ordinary  time  of  ten  days  between  Shiraz  and  Yezd 
to  five  days  and  a  quarter. 

Toward  evening  of  the  first  day,  as  I  retraced  my  route 
northward,  I  reached  once  more  the  ruins  of  Persepolis.  The 
desolate  terrace  looked  picturesque  in  the  moonlight,  but  I  did 

339 


340  FROM  SHIRAZ    TO    YEZD 

not  halt  again  to  wander  through  its  crumbled  palaces  and 
deserted  halls.  On  the  next  day,  however,  I  paid  another 
visit  to  the  sepulchres  of  the  Achsemenian  kings  at  Naksh-i 
Rustam  and  the  Magian  altars  and  rock-hewn  tables  on 
the  cliff  that  overlooks  them,  and  I  reached  Pasargadse  and 
the  tomb  of  Cyrus  that  same  afternoon,  spending  the  night 
once  more  at  Meshad-i  Murghab.  After  a  hard  march  of 
seven  farsakhs  in  six  hours  over  rough  hills  and  stony  ways 
I  rested  for  an  hour  at  Deh-Bid,  and  then  resumed  the  jour- 
ney and  arrived,  about  five  o'clock,  at  Khan-i  Khorah,  where 
the  night  was  to  be  passed  and  I  could  at  last  strike  eastward 
on  the  trail  to  Yezd.  From  my  previous  experience  I  remem- 
bered Khan-i  Khorah  as  a  desolate  place  at  which  I  was  held  up 
for  two  hours  and  a  half  because  the  post-horses  had  roamed 
miles  away  over  the  plain  to  graze.  The  interval  till  their 
return  I  had  spent  in  a  wretched  hovel  surrounded  by  natives 
in  a  dazed  condition  from  opium-smoking,  the  unfortunate 
effects  of  which  common  vice  are  only  too  frequently  seen  in 
Persia.  My  present  impression  was  more  pleasant,  as  I  was 
conducted  to  a  fairly  comfortable  little  house,  not  far  from 
the  caravansarai,  where  I  could  spend  the  night. 

There  was  a  small  but  pretty  garden  at  the  rear  of  this  simple 
abode ;  the  fruit  trees  were  in  full  blossom,  and  everything 
looked  cheerful  in  the  light  of  the  setting  sun.  I  hardly  had 
time  to  dispose  of  my  pack  and  arrange  my  camp-bed  for  the 
night,  before  the  head  man  of  the  village  paid  me  a  visit.  He 
had  come  for  medical  aid,  he  said;  his  wife  was  suffering 
from  toothache.  I  prescribed  as  best  I  could  from  my  limited 
stock  of  drugs,  but  I  soon  became  convinced  that  the  real 
patient  was  my  visitor  himself  and  that  he  hoped  he  might 
have  some  arac  and  tobacco  added  to  the  prescription.  I 
yielded  to  his  broad  hints  so  far  as  the  tobacco  was  concerned, 
for  I  had  one  or  two  cigarettes  left  in  my  case,  but  I  omitted 
the  spirituous  part  of  the  remedy,  probably  to  my  visitor's 
regret. 


FROM  DKH-BID  TO  KHAN-I  KHORAH 


OPIUM-SMOKERS 


FROM  SHIR  A  Z    TO  ABARKUH  341 

The  night  was  short,  as  Persian  nights  are  in  the  spring, 
and  when  one  is  trying  to  make  time,  it  is  necessary  to  rise 
long  before  three  o'clock  in  order  to  start  from  the  caravansarai 
by  daylight.  In  fact,  I  saw  more  sunrises  in  Persia  than  I 
ever  expect  to  see  again  in  all  my  life.  Darkness  was  melting 
into  dawn  when  I  found  myself  again  in  the  saddle,  with  a 
cavalcade  of  five  horses  and  three  footguards  to  accompany  me 
over  the  barrier  of  mountains  that  lay  between  Khan-i  Khorah 
and  the  sandy  deserts  of  Abarkuh  and  Yezd.  The  scenery  for 
a  time  was  superb.  Steep  ascents,  deep  ravines,  narrow 
gorges,  and  wild  passes  succeeded  each  other  in  great  variety. 
One  welcome  excuse  for  rest  and  refreshment  was  found  at  the 
foot  of  a  rocky  height,  where  a  crystal  spring  pulsed  up  with 
cool  water,  offering  the  last  chance  for  a  drink  before  crossing 
the  desert  to  Abarkuh.  Leaving  the  great  ridge  behind  us 
and  dismissing  most  of  the  guards,  as  they  were  no  longer 
needed,  for  Persian  highwaymen  operate  chiefly  in  the  moun- 
tain passes,  we  entered  upon  the  arid  tract  marked  on  the 
maps  as  the  Sandy  Desert,  whose  barren  stretch  as  far  as  Yezd 
is  broken  only  by  the  oases  of  Abarkuh  and  Deh-Shir  and  the 
mountains  beyond  the  latter. 

The  town  of  Abarkuh,  or  Abarguh,  (Abarkuh)  is  evidently 
of  great  antiquity.  The  Persians  in  earlier  and  later  times 
have  commonly  pronounced  the  name  as  Barkuh  or  Warkuh, 
understanding  it  to  signify  '  upon  the  mountain,'  or  4  over  the 
mountain,'  especially  when  speaking  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  desert  towns  that  lie  beyond  it  and  are  separated  from  it 
by  hills.1  The  tenth-century  geographer  Istakhri  (c.  A.D.  950) 
describes  the  town  as  follows  : — 

<  Abarkuh,  or  Warkuh,  is  a  fortified  city,  densely  populated,  and 
of  about  one-third  the  size  of  Istakhr.  The  houses  are  lattice-worked, 

1  So  my   informant,    Khodabakhsh  Goeje,  Bibl.  Geog.  Arab.}  Istakhri,  1. 

Rais    of    Yezd  ;    see    also    the    state-  126    (Abarkuh},   Mokaddasi,     3.     437 

ment  of  Yakut,   p.  8,  'the   Persians  (Barkuh},  and  Al-Hamadhani,  5.  203 

say    Varkuh  for  Barkuh,  "upon  the  (Abarkuiah)  ;  see  also  Schwarz,  Iran 

mountain." '      Cf.     likewise    (in    De  im  Mittelalter,  p.  17. 


342  FROM  SHIR  A  Z    TO    TEZD 

and  most  of  the  buildings,  as  well  as  the  buildings  at  Yezd,  are  built 
with  colonnades  (or  vaulted  domes).1  It  is  a  barren  place ;  there  are 
no  trees  or  gardens  around  it  except  at  a  distance,  but  the  soil  is 
productive  and  the  living  is  cheap.' 2 

On  the  right  of  the  road  as  we  approach  from  the  southwest 
there  is  a  large  fortress-like  ruin  called  Dakhmah-i  Ddrab, 
4  Structure  of  Darab,'  after  the  name  of  Darius  Codomannus, 
the  last  of  the  Achsemenians.  The  term  dakhmah,  which  is  ap- 
plied to  it,  is  used,  as  also  in  Turkish,  for  a  structure  in  general, 
and  is  not  to  be  confused  with  the  usage  of  the  word  dakhmah  in 
the  technical  sense  of  'Tower  of  Silence.'  The  ruin  looks  like 
a  deserted  stronghold  of  considerable  antiquity. 

On  the  left  of  the  road,  upon  an  elevation,  stands  the 
Dakhmah-i  Gabrahd,  '  Structure  of  the  Gabars,'  another  ruined 
edifice  of  mud  and  sun-dried  bricks,  closely  resembling  the 
Atash  Kadah,  or  4  Shrine  of  Fire,'  near  Isfahan,  which  I  have 
already  described.3  Adjoining  this  so-called  Gabar  structure 
stands  another  building,  evidently  an  old  temple,  but,  like  the 
shrine,  a  crumbling  ruin.  The  site  of  these  ancient  Iranian 
structures  appears  to  be  a  historic  one,  as  is  shown  by  some 
allusions  in  Mohammedan  writers.  Ibn  Haukal,  for  example, 
in  the  tenth  century,  says :  — 

'In  the  vicinity  of  Abarkuh  are  considerable  heaps  of  ashes. 
The  common  people  say  that  here  was  the  fire  of  Mmrod  (into  which 
he  caused  Abraham  to  be  thrown),  but  this  is  not  true;  the  fact 

1  The  Arabic  expression  mugtabekat  nard,  Diet.    geog.  de   la  Perse,  p.  8 

al-bind,    'of    netted-work  buildings,'  ('cintre'e'),  and  of  Schwarz,  Iran  im 

seems  to  allude  not  to  the  crowding  Mittelalter,    p.    18    ('  mit   gewolbter 

together  of  the  houses,  but  to  the  open  Decke').    Such  domed  mud  roofs  are 

or  trellis-work   style  of    architecture  common  in  Persia,   as  is  shown  also 

seen   in  the   front    of    the    building.  in  some  photographs  that  I  have  of 

The  second  term   (Arabic  word  azaj>  Yezd  and  Kashan,  but  this  explana- 

note  i,  p.  351)   appears    to   allude    to  tion  seems  to  me  not  so  good, 
colonnades  or  arched  galleries.     See  2  Istakhri,   ed.   De    Goeje,    1.    126. 

the  pictures  of  Yezd  in  Malcolm,  Five  The    Persian    version    adds    to    the 

Years  in    a  Persian   Town,  pp.  134,  Arabic  a  note  on  the  export  of  fruits 

184,   216.      But  'vaulted    domes'    is  from  Abarkuh. 
the   rendering    of   Barbier    de    Mey-  8  See  pp.  252-261,  above. 


RUINS   OF  AN  ANCIENT  FIRE-TEMPLE  343 

is  that  Nimrod   and  the   kings  of   Canaan    dwelt  in  the  land  of 
Babylon.'1 

This  statement  of  Ibn  Haukal  is  evidently  based  on  older 
authorities,  for  he  re-edited  Istakhri,  whom  Yakut  (c.  A.D. 
1220)  briefly  cites.  Yakut  has  a  somewhat  similar  legend, 
but  differs  from  this  account  in  certain  noteworthy  details. 

1  At  Abarkuh  there  is  a  large  hill  of  ashes,  which  the  inhabitants 
claim  was  the  fire  of  Abraham,  lighted  by  Bardah  and  Salamah.2 
But  in  the  Book  of  the  Avesta,  which  is  the  book  of  the  Magi,  I 
have  read  that  So'da  (Sudabah),3  the  daughter  of  Tubba,  wife  of  Kei 
Kaus,  fell  in  love  with   his   son   Kei  Khosru  (Siavash).4     She  en- 
deavored to  seduce  him,  but  he  rejected  her,  whereupon  she  told  his 
father  that  he  had  tried  to  dishonor  her,  which  was  a  lie.     There- 
upon Kei  Khosru  built  a  large  fire  at  Abarkuh  for  an  ordeal  and 
said :  "  If  I  am  innocent  the  fire  will  not  harm  me ;  if  I  am  guilty, 
as  claimed,  the  fire  will  devour  me."     At  this  he  entered  into  the 
fire  and  came  out  of  it  unhurt,  without  having  suffered  any  harm. 
In  this  way  he  dispelled  the  entire  charge  against  him.     The  ashes 
of  that  fire  are  to  be  seen  at  Abarkuh  in  the  shape  of  a  large  hill, 
and  to-day  it  is  called  the  Mountain  of  Abraham.     But  Abraham 
never  saw  the  land  of  Fars,  nor  entered  it ;  he  abode  in  Kutharabba, 
in  the  land   of  Babylon.      I    have  read   elsewhere,   however,  that 
Abraham  came  to  Abarkuh  and  prohibited  its  inhabitants  from  em- 
ploying cows  in  farming ;  consequently  they  do  not  employ  cows  in 
this  way,  although  there  are  plenty  in  the   country.     Abu   Bekr 
Mohammed,  who  is  known  as  al-Harbi  of  Shiraz,  .  .   .  states :  "  I 
was  in  Abarkuh  three  times,  but  I  never  saw  rain  fall  within  the 
walls  of  the  city,  and  the  people  said  that  this  was  owing  to  the 
prayers  of  Abraham."'5 

!Ibn    Haukal    (c.    A.D.    975),    tr.  .*  Firdausi   (tr.   Mohl.    2.    164-195) 

Ouseley,  p.  130.  and  the  author  of    the    Haft    Iklim 

2  The  Arabic  seems  to  mean  'which  narrate  the  story  not  of  Khosru,  but 
Bardah  and  Salamah  lighted  upon  it  of  Siavash,  which  is  apparently  more 
(i.e.  the  hill)  ' ;  but  Barbier  de  Mey-  in  accordance  with  the  facts. 

nard,  Diet.  geog.  de  la   Perse,   p.   8,  6  Yakut,    Geographisches     Worter- 

renders   *  qu'   Abraham  alluma   pour  buck,  ed.  Wiistenfeld,  1.  86,  Leipzig, 

Berdeh  et  Selamah.'  1866  ;  cf .  also  the  translation  of  Yakut 

3  Sudanah,  as  well  as  Sudabah,   is  by  Barbier  de   Meynard,  Diet.  geog. 
found  as  a  variant  form  of  the  name.  de  la  Perse,  pp.  8-9.     For  assistance 
For  references,  see  p.  344,  n.  1.  with  the  Arabic    I  am    indebted  to 


344  FROM  SHIRAZ    TO    YEZD 

This  legend  of  the  fire-ordeal,  as  preserved  in  Yakut,  is  suffi- 
cient to  prove  the  sacred  associations  of  the  place  and  its  right 
of  title  to  having  been  the  site  of  a  pyrseum,  even  if  Firdausi 
and  Thaalibi,  in  their  accounts,  do  not  give  the  precise  locality 
where  the  ordeal  took  place.1  We  may  consider,  therefore, 
that  still  another  identification  has  been  added  to  the  list  of 
sites  of  ancient  fire -temples  in  Persia  and  that  the  ruined 
shrine  at  Abarkuh  commemorates,  in  its  location  at  least,  the 
place  where  the  honor  of  Siavash  was  vindicated. 

In  this  connection  I  may  mention  a  legend  connected  with 
a  Mohammedan  saint  at  Abarkuh,  as  told  by  Hamdallah  Mus- 
taufi  (A.D.  1340).  This  author  narrates  that  there  was  in  the 
town  the  tomb  of  a  saint  of  Islam,  named  Taus  al-Haramein, 
which  literally  means  '  Peacock  of  the  two  Sanctuaries '  (that 
is,  of  Mecca  and  Medina),  and  he  reports  that  the  walls  of  the 
building  would  not  allow  a  roof  to  enclose  it,  for  if  a  roof  was 
erected  over  the  tomb,  some  supernatural  power  always  de- 
stroyed it.  He  likewise  adds  that  no  Jew  could  exist  in  Abar- 
kuh for  more  than  forty  days.2 

When  I  entered  the  town,  I  went  at  once  to  the  Reis  of 
Abarkuh  and  presented  my  letters  from  the  Governor  of 
Shiraz  and  from  the  Director  of  the  Post.  The  town  is  only  a 
small  place  nowadays,  and  the  Reis  could  not  obtain  horses  for 
me,  but  he  managed  to  procure  four  mules  to  make  up  a  cara- 
van for  crossing  the  desert,  and  arranged  that  the  start  should 
be  made  soon  after  midnight.  This  gave  me  time  to  rest  in 
the  afternoon,  which  I  spent  looking  out  from  the  window 
upon  a  little  stream  bordered  with  sycamore  trees  whose 
branches  rang  with  the  song  of  birds.  When  evening  came, 
I  fell  asleep  and  did  not  wake  until  midnight.  After  some 

the  kindness  of  my  colleagues  Yohan-  Thaalibi,     Histoire     des     Hois     des 

nan  and  Gottheil.  Perses,  tr.  Zotenberg,  pp.  171-186. 

1  For  the   well-known    account   of  2  See  Hamdallah  Mustaufi,  Nuzhat 

Sudabah   and    Siavash  in    Firdausi's  al-Kulub    (L.    174    gr),   cited  by  Le 

Shah  Ndmah,  see  the  translation  by  Strange,  JRAS.  1902,  p.  519,  n.  1. 
Mohl,     2.     153-195 ;      and    compare 


I  -^ 


LETTER  OF  CONVOY  FROM  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  SHIRAZ 


ACROSS   THE  DESERT   TO  DEH-SHIR  345 

delays  we  finally  got  our  company  of  mules,  muleteers,  and 
guards  under  way  and  resumed  the  journey.  The  moon  was 
flooding  the  sky  with  a  soft  Oriental  light  and  the  nightingale 
was  singing  in  the  tamarisk  bush  behind  the  mud  walls  as  we 
threaded  our  course  through  the  narrow  streets.  The  out- 
skirts of  the  town  were  presently  left  behind,  the  roads  began 
gradually  to  merge  into  sandy  trails,  and  an  hour  later  the 
swiftly  rising  sun  had  brushed  aside  the  silvery  veil  of  night 
and  gleamed  over  the  desert,  upon  which  we  had  entered. 

From  this  point  on,  for  fourteen  farsakhs,  or  nearly  fifty 
miles,  the  track  led  straight  across  an  arid  waste  marked 
only  by  hoof-prints  in  the  snowy  sand  and  by  skeletons  of 
beasts  of  burden  that  had  fallen  by  the  way.  The  air  was 
warm,  but  not  excessively  hot,  and  every  now  and  then  a 
breeze  sprang  up,  sweeping  powdery  whirlwinds  off  into  the 
distance  to  perish  in  the  sand  that  gave  them  birth.  Mirage 
after  mirage  arose  to  surprise  the  eye  and  give  play  to  the 
fancy,  thus  relieving  the  tedium  of  the  march.  Once  in  a  while 
the  beaten  track  forked  for  a  mile  or  more,  but  the  two 
branches  always  rejoined,  pointing  again  toward  the  oasis  town 
of  Deh-Shir,  which,  though  miles  away,  was  our  nearest  goal. 
There  was  little  need  for  guides  and  none  for  guards,  so  we  dis- 
missed a  part  of  our  company  of  attendants,  but  could  not  spare 
the  muleteers,  who  found  plenty  to  do  in  keeping  our  unruly 
animals  in  order.  The  pack-mule  kept  bolting  from  the  track 
at  the  most  unexpected  moments,  and  had  constantly  to  be  re- 
captured and  brought  back  to  the  train.  My  own  beast  was 
always  ready  for  rebellion  at  the  slightest  provocation,  and  I 
narrowly  escaped  having  my  skull  fractured  by  his  heels. 
A  halt  had  been  made  in  the  ankle-deep  sand,  and,  as  I  was 
remounting,  the  badly  girt  saddle  slipped  and  I  was  thrown 
under  the  beast's  heels,  with  my  foot  caught  in  the  stirrup. 
A  shower  of  terrific  kicks,  resembling  those  seen  in  comic 
pictures  of  the  Mississippi  mule,  filled  the  air.  I  was  bruised, 
dragged,  and  torn,  but  I  managed  to  shield  my  head  from  the 


346  FROM  SHIRAZ    TO    YEZD 

vicious  animal's  hoofs,  and  he  was  finally  reduced  to  subjec- 
tion. 

The  sun  was  well  on  its  way  in  the  western  sky  when  our 
long,  heated  march  of  nearly  fourteen  hours,  without  a  drop 
of  water  to  drink,  ended  at  the  green  oasis  of  Deh-Shir.  The 
lord  of  the  town  extended  a  kindly  welcome  in  Oriental  fashion 
and  provided  a  hearty  meal,  served  by  his  Persian  servants,  one 
of  whom  was  a  eunuch  slave.  He  then  conducted  me  to  the 
terrace  on  the  roof  to  show  me  the  view  over  the  oasis,  the 
desert,  and  the  hills  beyond,  expressing  a  doubt  whether  any 
land  could  compare  in  beauty  with  Iran.  I  appreciated  his 
enthusiasm,  even  if  I  did  not  fully  share  in  it.  He  inquired 
about  my  own  country,  the  location  of  which  I  could  best 
convey  to  his  mind  by  describing  it  as  a  far-off  land,  many 
thousand  f arsakhs  distant,  and  explaining  that  eight  days  of  the 
journey  had  been  across  4the  black  water,'  whereupon  he  at 
once  exclaimed  4  Yankl  DunydJ  1  which  means  literally  '  New 
World'  in  Persian,  whereas  the  term  America  conveyed 
nothing  to  him.  He  commented  upon  my  tanned  face,  which 
was  almost  as  dark  as  his  own,  and  talked  about  the  life  at 
Deh-Shir,  which,  it  appeared  to  me,  must  be  rather  monotonous. 
He  knew  the  surrounding  country  well,  but  the  main  fact  that 
I  elicited  regarding  antiquities  was  that  some  stone  coffins  with 
human  remains  had  once  been  found  in  the  vicinity.  Our  view 
over  the  landscape  was  enjoyed  through  a  telescope,  of  which 
he  was  the  proud  possessor,  having  inherited  it  from  a  father 
or  grandfather,  to  whom  it  had.  been  apparently  presented 
many  years  ago  by  its  original  owner,  an  English  officer,  if  I 
may  judge  from  the  inscription  engraved  upon  the  brass.  As 
I  was  a  foreigner,  he  expected  me  to  be  equipped  with  tobacco, 
and  I  was  sorry  not  to  have  any  American  cigars  to  offer  him 
as  samples  of  4  the  weed '  in  our  country,  but  I  tried  in  other 
ways  to  return  his  hospitality  and  to  reciprocate  his  acts  of 
courtesy. 

1  Pronounced  '  Yankee  Doonya.' 


DEH-SHIR  AND    TAFT  347 

When  I  was  taking  my  leave  and  asking  directions  and 
information,  he  told  me  that  the  road  through  all  his  district 
was  safe  ;  there  had  been  bandits  operating  recently  in  the  hills, 
he  said,  but  he  had  attended  to  the  last  of  these  about  a  fort- 
night previously.  The  closing  sentence  was  accompanied  by  a 
significant  gesture  with  his  hand  drawn  like  a  knife  across  his 
throat  to  indicate  the  punishment  he  had  inflicted  upon  the 
thieves.  Nevertheless,  to  make  my  safety  assured,  he  accom- 
panied me  himself,  after  the  Persian  manner,  some  distance 
beyond  the  town  and  gave  a  guide  and  guard  to  conduct  me 
across  the  Shir  Kuh  Mountains. 

The  road  led  over  wild  and  jagged  hills,  and  the  rocks  took 
on  fantastic  and  picturesque  shapes  in  the  rich  moonlight  as 
our  little  caravan  clambered  up  and  down  the  rough  ways  to 
the  pretty  hamlet  of  Deh-Zeresh.  After  a  few  hours'  sleep  we 
pushed  forward  again  over  the  hills  to  Aliabad,  where  our 
pack-mule  was  exchanged  for  two  small  donkeys,  and  we 
enjoyed  a  half  hour's  rest  and  breakfast  under  the  trees  near  a 
little  brook.  We  had  not  proceeded  far  after  resuming  the 
march,  before  one  of  the  donkeys  had  a  severe  fall  and  received 
a  cruel  cut  in  his  chest.  I  urged  the  muleteer  to  send  the 
animal  back  to  Aliabad,  as  I  would  pay  for  a  substitute, 
but  he  gave  no  attention  to  the  poor  beast's  suffering,  for 
animals  seem  to  have  no  rights  in  Persia,  where  a  society  for 
the  prevention  of  cruelty  would  have  an  ample  field  for  activity, 
and  he  seemed  almost  amused  that  I  should  consider  the  matter 
of  an  animal's  pain.  I  was  obliged,  therefore,  to  postpone  my 
sympathy  until  I  could  reach  Yezd  and  there  have  the  don- 
key's wound  properly  treated. 

As  we  proceeded  on  our  way  the  signs  of  increasing  civiliza- 
tion and  comparatively  fair  prosperity  grew  more  and  more 
marked,  and  about  an  hour  after  noonday  we  reached  Taft. 
This  is  a  well-to-do  suburb  of  Yezd  and  a  place  that  counts 
among  its  population  a  considerable  number  of  Zoroastrians, 
mostly  gardeners.  We  halted  here  long  enough  to  have  one 


348  FROM  SHIRAZ    TO    YEZD 

of  the  mules  shod,  as  its  shoes  had  been  loosened  and  lost  on 
the  hard  journey  over  the  rocky  hills  and  pebbly  roads  of  the 
Shir  Kuh.  This  gave  the  muleteer  and  the  guides  a  chance  to 
rest ;  they  had  been  walking  forty  miles  a  day,  yet  without 
apparent  fatigue,  for  when  called  upon  for  a  spurt,  they  were 
always  ready  to  set  off  at  the  pace  of  a  sprinter.  These  men 
have  evidently  kept  up  the  tradition  of  the  ancient  Persian 
couriers,  and  I  was  told  by  English  residents  in  Yezd  some 
remarkable  stories  of  the  feats  of  endurance  and  speed  these 
desert  runners  were  able  to  accomplish. 

Most  of  the  remainder  of  the  afternoon  was  spent  in 
reaching  Yezd,  ever  tantalizingly  near  because  of  the  clear- 
ness of  the  atmosphere,  yet  still  remote  because  of  the 
expanse  of  desert  around  it.  This  encircling  tract  of  sand, 
which  is  nearly  thirty  miles  broad  and  many  more  miles  long, 
is  bounded  on  the  south  and  west,  and  partly  on  the  north,  by 
ranges  of  rugged  hills,  while  a  belt  of  sand-dunes  on  the  east 
reaches  almost  to  the.  walls  of  Yezd,  but  is  kept  back  by 
gardens,  whose  green  tinge  affords  a  welcome  contrast  to  the 
brown  and  parched  aspect  of  all  around. 

Yezd  is  a  city  of  considerable  antiquity,  since  its  name 
apparently  occurs,  under  the  form  of  'lo-art^at  (Isatichai),  in 
Ptolemy's  Greek  geography,  where  it  is  named  among  the  few 
towns  of  the  desert  of  Carmania.1  According  to  Persian 
tradition,  moreover,  it  must  have  been  known  in  Alexander's 
time,  having  been  used  by  the  victorious  invader  as  a  place 
of  confinement  for  his  prisoners  of  war.2  The  common  view 
associates  the  name  Yezd,  or  Yazd,  with  Yazdagard  I  (A.D.  399- 
420) ,  father  of  Bahram  Gor,  probably  as  the  rebuilder  rather 
than  the  original  founder.8 

1  Ptolemy,  Geography,  6.  6.  2.    This      see  Sykes,    Ten    Thousand   Miles  in 
name  is  not  to  be  confused  with  Istakhr       Persia,  pp.  419-420. 

(Curzon,  Persia,  2.  239).  8  For  remarks  on  the  name  of  Yezd 

2  On  this  latter  point  (drawn  from      and  Kathah,  see  note  i  at  the  end  of 
Hafiz)  and  for  the  common  view  re-      this  chapter,  p.  351. 

ing  Yezd  (Yazd)  and  Yazdagard, 


VIEW  OF  YEZD 


A  STREET  IN  YEZD,  SHOWING  A  WIND-TOWER 


THE   CITY  OF   YEZD  349 

During  the  earlier  years  of  Mohammedan  rule  Yezd  became 
a  place  of  refuge  and  stronghold  for  the  Zoroastrian  Gabars, 
probably  because  of  its  remote  situation  in  the  desert,  although 
it  was  never  out  of  touch  with  the  rest  of  Persia.  The  first 
European  known  to  have  visited  it  was  Marco  Polo  in  1272, 
who  calls  it  '  the  good  and  noble  city  of  Yasdi.' l  The  Italian 
friar  Odoric  of  Pordenone,  who  came  here  about  fifty  years 
later  than  Marco,  speaks  of  the  town  as  '  Geth,'  '  Gest,'  or 
4 lest,'2  and  Josafa  Barbaro,  the  Venetian  (1474),  writes  the 
name  as  4Ies'  or  4Jex.'3 

Notwithstanding  the  earlier  and  later  importance  of  the 
city,  Yezd  has  little  to  offer  in  the  way  of  sight-seeing,  and  it 
certainly  cannot  lay  any  claim  to  natural  beauty.  One  rides 
for  hours  through  narrow  winding  streets,  with  nothing  to  see 
but  walls  of  clay,  the  backs  of  houses,  a  streak  of  sky  (which 
blazes  as  soon  as  summer  begins),  and  a  glimpse  of  high  wind- 
towers  rising  from  the  roofs  of  the  better  dwellings.  These 
lofty  air-shafts  (Idd-girs,  '  wind-collectors ')  resemble  square 
chimneys  with  slat-openings  above  to  catch  the  slightest  breeze. 
They  are  rendered  necessary  by  the  long  continuance  of  the 
heat  during  the  summer  months,  and  are  characteristic  of 
Yezd. 

The  area  of  the  city  is  considerable ;  Odoric  spoke  of  the 
town  as  4  walled  and  of  V  myles  in  circuite,'  and  the  same  is 
practically  true  to-day,  except  that  the  circuit  may  be  some- 
what larger  and  the  walls  have  fallen  in  some  places.  The 
fort  within  the  city  was  erected  or  reconstructed  in  the  year 
1137,  and  is  built  of  sun-dried  bricks  and  mud,  but  neither 
this  nor  the  citadel  of  the  Governor  inside  its  walls  would 
afford  any  material  defence  at  the  present  time.4  In  several 

1  Marco  Polo,  ed.  Yule,  1.  88.  1.  381  ;  Sykes,   Ten    Thousand  Miles 

2  Odoric  de  Pordenone,  ed.  Cordier,       in  Persia,  p.  421.     The  Arabic  allu- 
p.  451.  sions  in  note  i  at  the  end  of  this  chap- 

8  Josafa  Barbaro,  49.  59,  73,  82.  ter  show  that  the  citadel  must  have 

*  On  this  point  see  Curzon,  Persia,  existed  before  1137  and  that  it  was 
2.  240 ;  Landor,  Across  Coveted  Lands,  probably  rebuilt  in  that  year. 


350  FROM  SHIRAZ    TO    YEZD 

parts  of  the  town  there  are  public  squares,  the  one  near  the 
Governor's  palace  being  somewhat  effective,1  and  among  the 
features  of  Yezd  are  numerous  arches  over  the  narrow  streets  ; 
but  the  only  public  building  that  has  any  claim  to  considera- 
tion is  the  Friday  Mosque  (Masjid-i  Jum'-ah).  It  was  built 
in  1119  by  Sultan  Allah  ad-Daulah  Garshasp,  who  thus  won 
for  Yezd  the  cherished  title  Ddr  al-'-Ibddat,  'Abode  of  Wor- 
ship,' a  dignity  which  was  rendered  still  further  assured  in 
after  centuries  by  the  pious  munificence  of  some  of  the  later 
rulers,  traces  of  whose  donations,  especially  two  beautifully 
carved  wooden  doors,  are  still  to  be  seen.2 

The  population  of  Yezd  is  estimated  at  between  thirty  and 
forty  thousand,  or  at  nearly  sixty  thousand  if  the  villages  in 
the  district  be  included  in  the  count.  A  large  part  of  the 
population  is  engaged  in  silk-weaving,  which  is  one  of  the 
chief  industries  of  this  region.  But  this  was  a  matter  of  minor 
interest  to  me  at  the  moment,  nor  did  I  pay  much  attention 
to  the  manner  in  which  Yezd  meets  the  difficult  problem 
which  it  has  to  face  in  securing  an  adequate  water-supply, 
nor  again  was  I  especially  interested  in  the  bazaars,  or  in 
the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  city,  except  that  I  found 
it  very  convenient  that  Yezd  had  a  branch  of  the  Imperial 
Bank,  from  which  I  could  draw  upon  my  letter  of  credit. 
My  real  interest  in  Yezd  was  to  see  the  Zoroastrians,  and  I 
shall  devote  the  next  chapter  to  the  visit  that  I  paid  to  this 
interesting  community. 

1  For  a  picture,  see  Malcolm,  Five      gether  with  quotations  and  a  descrip- 
Years  in  a  Persian  Town,  p.  184.  tion  of  the  mosaic  dome  near  the  fort, 

2  For  notes  upon  this  subject,  to-      see  Sykes,  Ten  Thousand  Miles,  p.  421. 


NOTES  351 


I.     NOTE  ON  YEZD  AND  KATHAH 

There  is  good  reason  for  claiming  that  an  old  name  for  Yezd  or  a  collateral 
title  for  the  main  quarter  of  the  city  was  Kata,  judging  from  the  article  Kathah 
in  Istakhri  and  other  Perso-Arabic  geographers.  Istakhri  (ed.  De  Goeje, 
Bibl.  Gfeog.  Arab.  1.  125)  writes  as  follows:  'One  of  the  most  famous  cities  in 
the  district  of  Istakhr  on  the  confines  of  Khorasan  is  Kathah.  It  is  the  chief 
place  (haumah)  of  Yezd  and  Abarkuh  .  .  .  ,'  and  he  continues :  '  Kathah,  the 
chief  town  of  Yezd,  is  a  city  located  on  the  edge  of  the  desert.  It  has  good 
and  healthy  air  from  the  desert  and  possesses  also  the  comforts  that  belong 
to  large  cities.  Its  districts  are  noted  for  their  fertility,  and  living  is  cheap. 
The  houses  are  generally  built  of  clay  and  have  colonnades  (or,  'vaulted 
domes' — azaj,  plur.  from  azaj,  see  p.  342,  n.  1,  above).  It  has  a  fortified 
citadel,  with  two  iron  gates,  one  of  which  is  called  the  'Gate  of  Izad'  (it 
would  be  tempting  to  compare  Ptolemy's  'Icra-Hxcu,  as  a  possible  corruption 
from  'lo-aT-re^xea,  if  not  for  the  Persian  variant  Bdb-i  Andar,  'Inner  Gate'); 
the  other  is  called  'Gate  of  the  Mosque'  (Bab  al-Masjid),  on  account  of 
its  proximity  to  the  chief  mosque.  The  mosque  of  the  city  is  located  in  the 
suburbs.  The  water  for  the  city  comes  through  kandts,  but  there  is  also  a 
river  which  comes  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Kalah,  or  citadel  (i.e.  the  Kal'at 
al-Majus,  or  Kal'at-i  Zard),  near  a  village  where  there  is  a  lead-mine.  It  is 
very  delightfully  located  and  has  fertile  and  extensive  districts.  The  town  and 
its  districts  abound  in  fruit,  so  much  so  that  it  is  exported  to  Isfahan 
and  other  places.  The  mountains  have  many  trees  and  plants,  which  are 
also  exported.  Outside  the  city  there  is  a  suburb  which  has  fine  houses 
and  bazaars.  For  the  most  part  the  inhabitants  are  men  of  education  and 
letters.'  Ibn  Haukal  (ed.  De  Goeje,  2. 181,  cf.  also  2.  196)  repeats  this  state- 
ment verbatim  and  adds :  '  As  regards  the  district  of  Istakhr,  the  division  of 
Yezd  is  the  largest  division  in  it,  and  in  this  there  are  the  following  cities  : 
Kathah,  which  is  the  citadel,  and  Maibud,  Nairi,  and  Al-Fahraj,  and  in  all  the 
divisions  there  is  none  that  has  four  pulpits  (minbars')  except  this  one.'  In  his 
list  of  fortified  places  (taken  from  Istakhri,  1.  112)  Ibn  Haukal  (2.  187) 
mentions  Kathah  directly  after  Istakhr  (Persepolis),  saying,  '  The  city  of 
Kathah  has  a  fortress.'  Yakut  has  two  separate  paragraphs  devoted  to 
Kathah  and  Yezd.  In  the  first  (ed.  Wiistenfeld,  4.  239)  he  says :  '  Kathah, 
a  place  of  Pars ;  it  is  the  chief  city  (haumah)  of  the  district  (kurah)  of 
Yezd  and  belongs  to  the  district  (kuraJi)  of  Istakhr.'  In  the  second 
paragraph  (ed.  Wiistenfeld,  4.  1017)  he  states :  *  Yezd,  a  place  midway 
between  Nisapur,  and  Shiraz,  and  Isfahan ;  it  is  reckoned  to  the  province  of 
Pars  and  belongs  to  the  district  of  Istakhr  ;  it  (Yezd)  is  the  name  of  the  region 
and  its  citadel  is  called  Kathah  ;  between  it  and  Shiraz  the  distance  is  seventy 
farsakhs.'  Compare  also  the  French  translation  by  Barbier  de  Meynard,  Diet, 
geog.  p.  475  (Kathah),  p.  611  (Yezd)  ;  likewise  Schwarz,  Iran  im  Mittel- 
alter,  p.  19.  (For  help  in  translating  the  Arabic  passages  I  am  indebted  to 
the  kindness  of  my  colleagues  Gottheil  and  Yohannan.)  With  the  name  Kathah 


352  FROM  SHIRAZ    TO    YEZD 

(Old  Iran.  *Kata)  we  may  compare  the  first  part  of  the  Latin  name  Cetrora 
for  the  corresponding  place  in  the  geographical  list  of  the  Tabula  Peuting- 
eriana,  as  Toinaschek  (Sb.  Akad.  Wiss.  zu  Wien.  102.  165,  Vienna,  1883) 
derives  that  name  from  the  Old  Iranian  word  kata,  used  in  the  Avesta  to 
designate  an  *  excavation,'  house  dug  to  receive  corpses,  and  the  presumably 
Iranian  element  ravara,  found  in  the  Mod.  Pers.  Eudh-ravar  (cf.  Ptolemy's 
'Podpa,  Geog.  6.  5.  2).  This  suggestion  is  plausible  in  the  main,  since  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  Istakhri,  who  was  a  native  of  Stakhr,  would 
have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  territory  around  Yezd.  The  details 
which  he  gives  regarding  Kathah  and  the  river  that  flows  from  a  village 
near  a  citadel  where  there  is  a  lead-mine,  would  answer  in  general  to  the 
region  about  the  modern  village  Kattu  near  the  'Yellow  Castle'  (Kallah-i 
Zard},  as  described  by  Browne,  A  Year  Amongst  the  Persians,  p.  358.  [I  find 
the  identity  of  Kathah  and  Yezd  accepted  also  by  Le  Strange,  Lands  of  the 
Early  Caliphate,  p.  285,  Cambridge,  1905  ;  but  Khodabakhsh  Bahrain  Kais  writes 
me  that  the  name  Kathah  seems  to  be  absolutely  unknown  in  Yezd,  although 
there  is  a  large  village  called  Kahtu  or  Kathu  about  20  farsakhs  south  of  the 
city. — Proof-sheet  addition.] 


II.   NOTE  ON  Two  OLD  ITINERARIES  FROM  SHIRAZ  TO  YEZD 

I  add  two  old  itineraries,  the  one  by  an  Oriental,  the  other  by  an  Occidental, 
covering  in  part  at  least  the  route  followed  in  this  chapter.  The  first  is  by  the 
Arab  geographer  Istakhri  in  the  tenth  century  and  reads  as  follows  (ed.  De  Goeje, 
1.  129-130)  :  'Route  from  Shiraz  to  Kathah,  the  chief  town  of  Yezd,  along  the 
Khorasan  route :  From  Shiraz  to  the  village  of  Zarkan  (Zargan)  6  farsakhs ; 
from  Zarkan  to  the  city  of  Istakbr  6  /;  from  Istakhr  to  the  village  of  Bir  (v.l. 
Bin,  Plr,  Giz)  4  /;  from  Blr  to  Kahmand  (v.l.  Kihandah,  Kihandaz;  Ouseley 
reads  Kahndaz)  8  /;  from  Kahmand  to  the  village  of  Bid  (Deh-Bld,  'Willow 
Village  ')  8  /;  from  the  village  of  Bid  to  the  city  of  Abarkuh  12  /;  from  Ab- 
arkuh to  the  village  of  Al-Asad  ('Lion  Village,'  v.l.  Deh-Shir)  13  /;  from  the 
village  of  Asad  to  the  village  of  Al-Juz  (or  Jauz,  v.l.  Al-Khur,  Deh-i  Khvar)  6/  ; 
and  from  the  village  of  Al-Juz  to  the  village  Kalah  al-Majus  6  /;  and  from 
Kalah  al-Majus  to  the  city  of  Kathah,  the  chief  place  of  Yezd,  5  /. '  The  second 
is  the  memorandum  of  the  route  of  Josafa  Barbaro,  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
from  Persepolis  to  Yezd  (ed.  Hakluyt,  49.  81-82),  and  it  reads  as  follows: 
'Fromthense,  iij  daies  iorney,  yowcome  to  a  towne  called  Dehebeth  (Deh-Bid), 
wheare  they  vse  tillaige  and  making  of  fustians.  Twoo  daies  iorney  further 
ye  coine  to  a  place  called  Vargari  (or  Vargan),  which  in  tyme  past  hath  been  a 
great  and  a  faire  towne  ;  but  at  this  pfit  it  maketh  not  aboue  m1  houses,  in 
the  which  they  also  vse  tillaige  and  making  of  fustians,  as  is  aforesaid. 
Foure  daies  iorney  thense  ye  come  to  a  towne  called  Deiser  (Deh-Shir),  and  iij 
daies  iorney  further  an  other  towne  called  Tafte  (miswritten  as  Taste), 
from  whense  following  that  waie  another  daies  iorney  ye  come  to  Jex,  of  the 
which  I  haue  made  sufficient  mencon  before.' 


CHAPTER   XXIII 
THE  ZOROASTRIANS  OF  YEZD 

'  From  Yezd's  eternal  Mansion  of  the  Fire.' 

—  MOORE,  Lalla  Rookh. 

SITUATED  amid  a  sea  of  sand  which  threatens  to  ingulf  it, 
Yezd  is  a  symbolic  home  for  the  isolated  band  of  Zoroastrians 
that  still  survives  the  surging  waves  of  Islam  that  swept  over 
Persia  with  the  Mohammedan  conquest  twelve  hundred  years 
ago.  Although  exposed  to  persecution  and  often  in  danger 
from  storms  of  fanaticism,  this  isolated  religious  community, 
encouraged  by  the  buoyant  hope  characteristic  of  its  faith,  has 
been  able  to  keep  the  sacred  flame  of  Ormazd  alive  and  to 
preserve  the  ancient  doctrines  and  religious  rites  of  its  creed. 

When  the  Arab  hosts  unfurled  the  green  banner  with  the 
crescent  and  swept  over  the  land  of  Iran  with  cry  of  Allah, 
shout  of  Mohammed,  proclamation  of  the  Koran,  fire,  sword, 
slaughter,  enforced  conversion,  or  compulsory  banishment,  a 
mighty  change  came  over  Persia.  The  battle-grounds  of 
Kadisia  and  Nihavand  decided  not  Iran's  fate  alone,  but  Iran's 
faith.  Ahura  Mazda,  Zarathushtra,  and  the  Avesta  ceased 
almost  to  be  known,  the  temple  consecrated  to  fire  became  a 
sacrifice  to  its  own  flame,  and  the  gasp  of  the  dying  Magian's 
voice  was  drowned  by  the  call  of  the  Muezzin  to  prayer  on  the 
top  of  the  minaretted  mosque. 

In  a  way  the  Moslem  creed  was  easy  of  acceptance  for  Persia, 

since  Mohammed  himself  had  adopted  elements  from  Zoroas- 

trianism  to  unite  with  Jewish  and  Christian  tenets  in  making 

up  his  religion.     The  Persian,  therefore,  under  show  of  reason 

2  A  353 


354  THE   ZOKOASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

or  exercise  of  force,  could  be  led  to  exchange  Ormazd  for  Allah, 
to  acknowledge  Mohammed,  instead  of  Zoroaster,  as  the  true 
prophet  of  later  days,  and  to  accept  the  Koran  as  the  inspired 
word  of  God  that  supplanted  the  Avesta.  The  conqueror's 
sword,  inscribed  with  holy  texts  in  arabesques,  contributed  its 
share,  no  doubt,  to  making  all  this  possible,  but  many  a  Gabar 
stubbornly  refused  to  give  up  his  belief,  and  consequently 
sealed  his  faith  with  his  blood.  The  few  that  sought  religious 
liberty  by  accepting  exile  in  India  became  the  ancestors  of  the 
modern  Parsis  of  Bombay,  so  often  spoken  of  already;  but 
the  rest  of  the  scanty  handful  that  escaped  the  perils  of  the 
Mohammedan  conquest  found  a  desert-home  at  Yezd  and  in  the 
remote  city  of  Kerman,  not  to  mention  the  straggling  few  that 
are  found  elsewhere  in  Persia,  to  prove  the  exception  to  the  now 
universal  rule  of  Islam  in  Iran. 

Almost  immediately  after  my  arrival  at  Yezd  I  inquired  for 
the  home  of  Kalantar  Dinyar  Bahram,  the  head  of  the  Zoroas- 
trian  community,  which  numbers  between  8000  and  8500  in 
the  city  and  its  environs,1  but  it  took  me  some  time  to  find  his 
house.  For  nearly  two  hours  my  tired  mules  and  donkeys 
threaded  their  way  through  dusty,  crooked  lanes,  across  camel- 
filled  squares,  and  in  and  out  of  closing  bazaars,  until  we 
reached  the  Kalantar's  door  just  as  the  sun  was  going  down. 
The  dwelling  was  unpretentious  on  the  outside,  as  all  Persian 
houses  are.  Several  servants  answered  the  summons  of  my 
man,  who  announced  the  arrival  of  a  farangi,  and  I  was  then 
ushered  into  a  large,  oblong  room  carpeted  with  fine  Persian 
rugs.  The  walls  of  the  apartment  were  almost  without  deco- 
ration, and  the  furnishing  was  confined  chiefly  to  divans  and 
cushions,  as  in  many  Oriental  dwellings ;  but  on  one  side  there 
were  arranged  in  Occidental  manner  a  table  and  some  chairs, 
made  and  upholstered  after  European  models.  The  front  of 

1  These  are  the  figures  given  me  at  ration  of  the  Zoroastrians  in  Persia. 
Teheran  by  Mr.  Ardeshir  Reporter,  See  also  p.  336,  n.  3,  above;  p.  376, 
Agent  of  the  Society  for  the  Amelio-  n.  1,  and  p.  425,  below. 


SCENE  IN  YEZD 


THE  RESERVOIR  IN  THE  MEIDAN  AT  YEZD 


A    ZOROASTRIAN    WELCOME  AT   YEZD  355 

the  room  seemed  almost  open  to  the  air,  because  of  the  broad 
doorways  and  deep  windows  that  ran  from  floor  to  ceiling  and 
looked  out  upon  a  covered  veranda  and  a  court  which  enclosed 
a  pretty  garden  with  roses  and  potted  plants.  My  Gabar  host 
entered  the  room  a  few  minutes  later. 

He  was  a  man  somewhat  over  fifty  years  of  age,  with  a 
roundish  face  and  grizzled  beard,  and  was  dressed  in  a  robe  of 
grayish  cloth  with  a  large  white  cotton  sash  about  his  waist. 
Upon  his  head  he  wore  the  low  rolled  turban  which  is  character- 
istic of  the  Persian  Zoroastrians  ;  I  had  seen  the  same  style  of 
head-gear  worn  by  an  Iranian  priest  from  Kerman  when  I  was 
in  Bombay.  With  genuine  courtesy  and  manifest  cordiality 
my  host  extended  a  welcome,  and  turned  aside  with  a  light 
touch  the  apologies  I  offered  for  my  dusty  appearance  and  for 
entering  his  room  wearing  riding-leggings  —  as  one  has  to  do 
often  in  Persia.  In  the  best  Fdrsl  phrases  that  I  could  com- 
mand I  explained  the  purpose  of  my  visit.  In  Eastern  fashion 
he  immediately  placed  his  house  and  his  all  at  my  disposal, 
and  this  I  found  to  be  no  empty  phrase  of  courtesy  in  his  case, 
even  though  I  could  not  accept  the  generous  invitation  to 
lodge  under  his  roof,  because  I  had  already  promised  to  be  the 
guest  of  the  English  missionaries. 

As  soon  as  the  Kalantar  learned  in  more  detail  the  reason 
for  my  coming  to  Yezd,  he  sent  for  a  member  of  the  community 
named  Khodabakhsh  Bahram  Rais,  who  had  studied  in  Bombay 
and  spoke  English  fluently,  and  who  was  known  in  Yezd  as 
'  Master  '  because  of  his  attainments.  The  style  of  dress  of  this 
scholar  was  similar  to  the  Kalantar's,  even  in  the  waistband 
and  turban,  and  his  features  were  of  the  same  general  cast, 
although  somewhat  sharper.  The  nose,  as  in  the  case  of  all 
the  Persian  Zoroastrians  that  I  met,  was  rather  prominent, 
but  well  shaped.  In  manner  he  was  modest  and  courtly,  and 
his  face  lighted  up  when  he  recognized  the  name  he  had  heard 
from  common  friends  in  Bombay,  where  my  Zoroastrian  in- 
terests were  known.  He  held  a  hurried  consultation  with  the 


356  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

Kalantar,  and  they  at  once  proposed  a  plan  for  a  conference 
on  the  morrow  with  the  High  Priest  and  with  the  spiritual 
and  secular  leaders  of  the  Zoroastrian  community,  setting  the 
time  in  Persian  fashion  at  so  many  hours  'after  sunrise.' 
Gifts  of  flowers  were  brought  in  and  presented  to  me  as  a 
sign  of  welcome,  and  the  hospitality  of  supper  was  extended 
in  Zoroastrian  style. 

At  this  meal  the  host  himself  declined  to  take  a  seat  at  the 
table,  but  moved  about,  standing  now  at  the  doorway  and 
again  withdrawing  to  give  directions,  but  returning  to  see 
them  carried  out.  He  explained  that  this  was  regarded 
among  his  people  as  the  true  manner  of  hospitality  in  olden 
times,  when  the  master  of  the  house  was  supposed  to  be  ever 
ready  to  serve  his  guests  in  person,  and  he  thought  that  I 
would  best  like  to  have  the  time-honored  custom  observed. 
The  number  of  dishes  was  perhaps  ancient  Median  in  its 
variety,  rather  than  early  Persian  —  in  other  words,  the  abun- 
dance of  Astyages  and  not  the  frugality  of  his  grandson  Cyrus, 
if  we  may  accept  the  picture  in  Xenophon's  Greek  romance  as 
accurate.  A  hearty  broth  as  first  course  was  followed  by  lamb, 
vegetables,  and  some  dishes  characteristic  of  Yezd,  with  sweet- 
meats and  tea  for  dessert  and  some  mild  wine  such  as '  the  house 
of  the  Magian '  produced  in  the  days  of  Hafiz.  To  converse 
at  table  was,  I  knew,  contrary  to  the  Avestan  code,  but  I 
preferred  not  to  observe  this  prescription,  even  in  the  house 
of  a  Zoroastrian,  as  I  wished  to  use  every  possible  moment  to 
learn  more  concerning  the  interesting  people  among  whom  I 
had  come.  We  talked  about  matters  of  home  life  among  the 
Zoroastrians,  the  size  of  their  community,  their  relations 
with  Kerman,  and  the  communication  they  had  with  their  co- 
religionists in  India,  until  it  was  time  for  me  to  leave  for  the 
English  Mission,  where  I  found  a  hearty  welcome  awaiting  me. 

At  an  early  hour  the  next  morning  I  returned  again  to  the 
house  of  my  Zoroastrian  host.  The  Anjuman,  or  synod  of  leading 
men  in  the  Gabar  community,  was  assembled  to  the  number  of 


MEETING    WITH  THE  ANJUMAN,   OE   SYNOD  35T 

eighteen.  The  Chief  Priest,  Dastar-i  Dasturdn,  who  was  named 
Namdar,  happened  to  be  absent  in  India  at  the  time,  but  the 
Acting  High  Priest,  Tir  Andaz,  who  was  his  father-in-law,  was 
at  home  and  entered  the  assembly  a  few  minutes  later.  He 
was  a  tall,  handsome  man,  dressed  in  robes  of  pure  white, 
and  his  flowing  beard  of  snow  lent  the  dignity  of  age  to  his 
kindly  face.  A  brownish  turban  set  off  his  dark,  intelligent 
eyes,  which  had  the  gleam  of  youth  and  were  in  keeping 
with  his  manly  frame,  erect  bearing,  and  clear  voice. 

The  formal  reception  in  Oriental  manner  now  began,  and  I 
was  reminded  of  the  description  in  the  Zartusht  Namah  of  the 
ceremonies  when  Zoroaster  first  appeared  before  his  patron 
Vishtaspa.  Settees  and  chairs  were  placed  in  a  large  open  hall 
that  faced  upon  the  garden  court.  They  were  arranged  in  the 
form  of  a  widespread  V,  in  much  the  same  manner  as  in  the 
council  of  Ormazd  described  in  the  old  Iranian  Bundahishn.1 
I  was  formally  conducted  to  a  seat  at  the  apex  of  this  V.  My 
host  took  the  place  on  the  right,  the  High  Priest  sat  on  the 
left ;  the  other  members  of  the  assembly  were  arranged  in  order 
of  seniority  or  rank.  When  all  were  seated  there  was  a  mo- 
ment's pause.  Then  those  sitting  on  the  right  turned  toward 
me  and  made  a  solemn  bow,  to  which  I  responded  ;  the  same 
salutation  was  formally  repeated  on  the  left.  A  servant  next 
entered  with  a  tray  of  confectionery,  a  ewer  of  rose-water,  and 
a  hand-mirror.  From  the  hospitality  of  the  Parsis  in  India,  I 
was  familiar  with  the  rose-water  and  sugar  candy,  but  I  had 
not  previously  seen  the  mirror  used  in  ceremonies,  although 
I  was  told  it  was  an  old  Zardushtian  custom  in  receiving 
a  guest.  My  momentary  embarrassment  was  relieved  when 
the  mirror  was  handed  to  the  High  Priest.  He  looked  gravely 
into  it,  slowly  stroked  his  white  beard,  on  which  he  poured  a 
few  drops  of  rose-water,  and  then  with  perfect  dignity  passed 

1  See  my  article  in  Archiv  fur  Eeli-  speaks  of  this  as  the  Parsi  manner  of 
gionswissenschaft,  1.  364.  I  have  also  sitting  at  meals,  in  contrast  to  the  Jew- 
been  told  that  the  Talmud  somewhere  ish  fashion. 


358  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

the  glass  to  the  next,  who  did  likewise,  and  so  did  the  others. 
The  sugared  bonbons,  for  which  the  Zoroastrians  of  Yezd  are 
renowned,  proved  very  refreshing  and  served  to  satisfy  that 
craving  for  sweets  which  is  felt  by  travellers  in  hot  and 
dry  climates.  Meanwhile  a  number  of  the  company  regaled 
themselves  with  snuff,  as  there  seems  to  be  no  objection  to  the 
use  of  tobacco  in  that  manner,  but  only  to  its  being  smoked,  as 
that  is  regarded  as  a  defilement  of  the  fire. 

The  formalities  finished,  the  real  conference  began,  and  for 
three  or  more  hours  I  asked  and  answered  questions  relating 
to  Zoroaster  and  his  faith,  and  concerning  the  condition  of  his 
followers  in  Persia.  Two  manuscripts  of  the  Avesta  and  some 
fragments  were  first  shown  me.  One  of  these  was  a  fine  large 
copy  of  the  Vendidad  Sadah,  seen  by  Professor  E.  G.  Browne, 
when  he  visited  Yezd  in  1888;  the  other  was  a  text  of  the 
Yasna.  The  copy  of  the  Vendidad  Sadah  was  much  the  older 
of  the  two,  and  was  said  to  date  back  about  three  hundred 
years.  The  Yasna  manuscript  belonged  to  the  middle  of  the 
last  century.  The  third  text,  incomplete,  was  a  good  tran- 
script of  the  Vishtasp  Yasht,  which  is  a  comparatively  late  com- 
pilation devoted  to  the  praise  of  Zoroaster's  patron  and  other 
worthies  of  the  religion.  These  were  all  the  manuscripts  that 
could  be  produced  at  the  moment,  and  the  best-informed  mem- 
bers of  the  assembly  stated  that  all  their  more  important  manu- 
scripts had  been  sent  to  India  for  safe-keeping  or  for  use,  and 
they  feared  that  the  chances  of  obtaining  hitherto  unknown 
copies  were  growing  yearly  less.1  I  urged  upon  them  the 
importance  of  making  a  careful  search,  especially  among  the 
older  families,  who  might  possibly  have  texts  that  had  not 
found  their  way  to  Bombay,  and  I  have  since  corresponded 

1  A  number  of  these  manuscripts  the  manuscripts  I  had  seen  at  Yezd 
which  are  now  in  Bombay  had  already  and  also  in  Mr.  John  Tyler's  posses- 
been  used  by  Professor  Geldner  in  the  sion  at  Teheran,  as  the  Secretary  of  the 
preparation  of  his  edition  of  the  Avesta.  Panchayat  had  requested  from  me  a 
I  communicated  afterward  to  the  Parsi  report  regarding  any  copies  of  Avestan 
Panchayat  in  Bombay  the  facts  about  texts  I  could  find. 


MANUSCRIPTS   OF   THE  A  VEST  A  359 

with  them  on  the  subject ;  but  I  am  hardly  more  sanguine 
about  the  results  of  the  search  than  was  Westergaard,  who 
visited  Yezd  and  Kerman  in  1843. l  The  members  of  the 
assemblage  naturally  ascribed  the  loss  of  their  texts  largely 
to  the  persecutions  that  followed  after  the  Moslem  conquest, 
an  instance  of  which  I  gathered  from  an  oral  tradition  current 
among  them.  It  is  worth  repeating. 

About  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  Arab  conquest,  or  more  ac- 
curately in  the  year  A.D.  820,  there  was  a  Mohammedan  governor 
of  Khorasan,  named  Tahir,  who  was  the  founder  of  the  Taharid 
dynasty  and  was  called  'the  Ambi-dextrous '  (Zu'l-Yaminein). 
He  was  a  bigoted  tyrant,  and  his  fanaticism  against  the  Zoroas- 
trians  and  their  scriptures  knew  no  bounds.  A  Musulman  who 
was  originally  descended  from  a  Zoroastrian  family  made  an  at- 
tempt to  reform  him  and  laid  before  him  a  copy  of  the  book  of 
good  counsel,  Andarz-i  Buzurg-Mihr,  named  from  the  precepts 
given  by  Buzurg-Mihr,  the  prime  minister  of  Anushirvan  the 
Just,  and  he  asked  the  governor  for  permission  to  translate  it 
into  Arabic  for  his  royal  master's  edification.2  Tahir  exclaimed, 
4  Do  books  of  the  Magians  still  exist? '  On  receiving  an  affirm- 
ative answer,  he  issued  an  edict  that  every  Zoroastrian  should 
bring  to  him  a  man  (about  fourteen  pounds)  of  Zoroastrian  and 
Parsi  books,  in  order  that  all  these  books  might  be  burned,  and 
he  concluded  his  mandate  with  the  order  that  any  one  who 
disobeyed  should  be  put  to  death.  As  my  informant  added, 
it  may  well  be  imagined  how  many  Zoroastrians  thus  lost  their 
lives,  and  what  a  number  of  valuable  works  were  lost  to  the 
world  through  this  catastrophe.  A  variation  of  the  story,  but 
told  of  Tahir's  son,  named  Abdullah  (A.D.  828-840),  and 
applied  to  the  romance  of  Vdmik  and  'Adhrd,  which  is  described 
in  its  title  as  'a  pleasing  story  (khub  hikdyat)  compiled  by 

1  See  Westergaard,  Zendavesta,  2  This  work  corresponds  to  the  Pah- 
preface,  p.  21,  n.  4,  and  p.  11,  n.  3,  lavi  treatise  Pandnamak-i  Vazhorg- 
Copenhagen,  1852-1854;  see  likewise  Mitro-i  Bukhtakan,  which  has  survived, 
his  letter  to  Dr.  Wilson,  quoted  by  See  on  this  point  West,  Grundr.  iran. 
Karaka,  History  of  the  Parsis,  1.  60.  Philol.  2. 113. 


360  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

sages  and  dedicated  to  King  Anushirvan '  (A.D.  531-579),  is 
given  by  the  Persian  biographer  Daulatshah  in  his  literary 
notices.1  The  story  as  it  exists  to-day  among  the  Zoroastrians 
is  an  interesting  illustration  of  their  pertinacity  in  keeping  up 
the  tradition  regarding  the  loss  of  much  of  their  literature 
after  the  Mohammedan  conquest  as  well  as  during  the  invasion 
of  *  Alexander  the  Accursed.' 

Inquiries  regarding  legends  of  Zoroaster  did  not  result  in 
bringing  out  anything  particularly  new,  but  it  was  interesting 
to  obtain  their  views  on  some  of  the  debated  questions  in  con- 
nection with  the  prophet's  life.  Zoroaster,  they  believe,  came 
from  Rei,  the  ancient  ruined  city  of  Ragha  near  Teheran,  long 
associated  with  his  mother's  name.2  They  knew  nothing  of 
the  tradition  that  connects  him  with  Urumiah.3  They  associ- 
ate his  home,  or  rather  his  father's  house,  which  is  said  in  the 
Vendidad  to  have  been  located  on  the  Drejya,  Darejya,  or 
Daraj,  with  the  region  about  the  river  Karaj  on  the  road  from 
Teheran  to  Kazvin.  The  village,  they  said,  corresponds  to  the 
modern  Kalak  near  the  Karaj  River  which  flows  from  the 
mountain  Paitizbara,  as  they  interpret  the  words  paiti  zbarahi 
in  the  Avestan  text.4  The  resemblance  between  the  letters  D 
and  JTin  Avestan  Darejya,  Drejya,  Phi.  Dareji,  Pers.  Daraj,  if 
written  in  the  ancient  script,  does  make  this  ingenious  compari- 
son seem  plausible  for  a  moment,  especially  as  the  river  Karaj 
itself,  a  photograph  of  which  I  took  three  weeks  later  when  I 

1  See  Daulatshah,    Tadhkirat   ash-  and  Customs,  p.  3,  Bombay,  1893,  and 
Shu'ara,  ed.  Browne,  p.  30,  London,  this  treatise  has  been  translated  into 
1901,  and  compare  Browne,  Literary  Persian  by  Master  Khodabakhsh.    The 
History  of  Persia,  pp.  12,  346-347.  same   interpretation    appeared   to  be 

2  See  p.  430,   below,   and  compare  found  in  a  lithographed  work  from 
my  Zoroaster,  pp.  17,  85,  192,  202.  which  they  quoted,  and  which  was  a 

8  See  pp.  87,  103,  above.  compilation   by  Mirza   Tath-ali-khan 

4  See  Vd.  19.  3,  11.     The  view  that  Zanganahi  (so  far  as  I  could  catch  the 

the  text  contains  an  allusion  to  a  moun-  name).     The  comparison  of  the  Daraj 

tain  called '  Paitizbara '  (paiti  zbarahi")  with  Karaj  is  due  to  this  latter  writer, 

from  which  the  Darejya  flows,  is  found  There  are  some  incidental  references 

in  an  essay  in  English  by  Ervad  She-  to  the  Karaj  in  Yakut,  pp.   65,  478, 

riarji  Bharacha,  Zoroastrian  Religion  488  ;  see  also  p.  443,  below. 


THE  ZOROASTRIAN  ANJUMAN  AT  YEZD 


QUESTIONS   CONCERNING   ZOROASTER  361 

crossed  it,  also  shows  precipitous  banks  that  would  answer  to  the 
conditions  supposed  to  be  required  by  the  phrase  paiti  zbarahi 
in  the  Vendidad ; l  but  in  spite  of  this  the  identification  seems 
fanciful,  and  I  have  given  reasons  elsewhere  for  believing  that 
the  river  Darejya,  Drejya  of  the  Avesta,  is  the  modern  Daryai 
in  Azarbaijan.2  I  may  add  in  passing  that  a  number  of  persons 
in  the  assembly  knew  that  Zoroaster's  name  was  associated  by 
tradition  with  the  city  of  Balkh  in  eastern  Iran. 

For  Zoroaster's  name,  which  appears  in  the  Avesta  as  Zara- 
thushtra  and  in  Modern  Persian  as  Zartusht  or  Zardusht,  which 
is  believed  in  reality  to  mean  some  sort  of  a  camel  (Av.  ushtra, 
see  p.  89,  above)  they  offered  nearly  a  dozen  fantastical  interpre- 
tations or  attempted  etymologies.  Dastur  Tir  Andaz,  after  the 
Oriental  manner,  suggested  that  the  name,  if  divided  as  Zar- 
tusht^ might  be  explained  as  '  pure  gold,'  or  '  washed  gold,'  as  if 
the  latter  element  were  connected  with  shustan,  4to  wash.' 
Another  member  of  the  company  proposed  4  enemy  of  gold,'  as 
if  the  final  member  of  Zar-dusht  were  dushman,  'foe.'  Finally 
my  host  turned  to  the  lithographed  book  that  he  held  in  his 
hand,  and  which  seemed  to  be  a  compendium  of  the  various 
Persian  and  Arabic  writers  who  mention  Zoroaster  and  are 
already  known  to  Western  scholars.3  The  work  contained  no 
less  than  nine  different  explanations,  part  of  them  cited  from 
Persian  lexicographical  works,  and  I  subsequently  learned  that 
it  was  handed  down  by  Farzanah  Bahrain  ibn  Farhad,  a  disciple 
of  Azar  Keivan,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Akbar  the  Great, 
about  A.D.  1600. 4  The  value  of  the  book  was  most  highly 

1 1  have  reproduced  the  photograph  shasp  was  a  learned  and  well-known 

in  Chap.  28,  below.    For  paiti  zbarahi,  Persian    priest     who    believed    in    a 

see  Bartholomae,  Air.  Wb.  p.  1699.  universal    religion.      After    spending 

2  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  194-195.  twenty-eight  years  of  his  life  in  medi- 

3  For  the    main    sources,   see    my  tation  he  came  to  India  and  settled  at 
Zoroaster,  pp.  280-286.  Patna,  where  he  became  known  as  a 

4  According  to  the  Parsi  Prakash,  teacher  of  a  universal  creed.    He  wrote 
ed.    Bamanji    Bahramji  Patel,  p.   10,  the  Makashifat-i  Azar  Keivan  and  died 
Bombay,    1888,   the  above-mentioned  at  Patna  in  1614,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
Dastur  Azar   Keivan  bin   Azar    Go-  five.     For  this  information   from  the 


362  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

thought  of  by  my  best-informed  critic,  Khodabakhsh  Ra'is, 
who  referred  to  it  as  an  imaginative  work  and  branded  the 
etymologies  as  4  fanciful  and  invented  by  the  disciples  of  the 
aforesaid  Azar  Keivan,  who  was  a  half-Brahman,  half-Zoroas- 
trian,  a  believer  in  metempsychosis.'  Scholars  will  certainly 
agree  with  the  estimate  as  to  the  philological  value  of  the  inter- 
pretations, but  I  give  the  list  as  I  noted  it. 

1.  afanda-i  avval,  '  first  created  being.' 

2.  nafs-i  kull,  '  universal  soul/ 

3.  nafs-i  natikah,  '  spirit  of  speech.' 

4.  lakl-i  falak-i   'utarid,   '  genius   of  the   heaven   of  the    planet 
Mercury.' 

5.  nur-i  mujarrad,  '  incorporeal  light/ 

6.  'akl-ifa"al,  'active  genius/ 

7.  rabbu  'n-nau'-i  insan,  'lord  of  all  mankind/ 

8.  rast-gu,  'truth-speaker/ 

9.  nur-i  khuda,  or  nur-i  yazddn,  '  light  of  God/ 

From  the  same  historical  compilation  the  reader  cited  a  passage 
to  the  effect  that  the  Mohammedans  believed  that  there  were 
several  Zoroasters — a  view  which  I  had  heard  propounded 
also  by  some  of  the  Zoroastrians  in  India — and  that  the  Zar- 
dusht  of  Vishtasp's  time  was  the  ninth  in  order,  the  first  of 
them  being  Hoshang; l  but  this  view,  according  to  my  host, 
was  due  to  a  mistaken  reading  of  a  verse  in  the  Shah  Namah. 

From  questions  relating  to  Zoroaster  we  turned  to  religion 
and  philosophy.  The  discussion  led  to  the  problem  of  dualism, 
the  relation  of  Ormazd  (Ahura  Mazda,  4  Lord  Wisdom')  and 
the  archangels  and  angels  (Amesha  Spentas  and  Yazatas)  to 

Parsi  Prakash  I  am  indebted  to  ray  Bharucha,  op.  cit.  p.  121)  Zartosht  is 
pupil  and  friend,  Ervad  ManeckjiNus-  the  thirteenth  in  the  line  of  prophets, 
servanji  Dhalla,  of  Karachi,  India,  a  Such  is  the  view  held  also  by  some  of 
student  at  Columbia  University.  For  the  theosophists  among  the  Modern 
a  note  on  Farzanah  Bahrain  ibn-Far-  Parsis  of  India,  certain  of  whom  re- 
had,  see  Shehriarji  Bharucha,  The  gard  him  as  the  seventh  of  the  name. 
Dasatir,  in  Zartoshti,  3.  122,  Bom-  See  Bilimoria,  Zoroastrianism  in  the 
bay,  1905.  Light  of  Theosophy,  p.  4,  note,  Bom- 
1  In  the  Dasatir  (see  Shehriarji  bay,  1896. 


DISCUSSIONS  REGARDING   THE   RELIGION  363 

Ahriman  (Angra  Mainyu,  4  Evil  Spirit, ')  and  the  arch-fiends 
and  fiends  (Daevas  and  Drujes),  who  war  against  the  soul  of 
man.  I  found  that  the  most  enlightened  of  these  Zoroastrians 
look  upon  Ahura  Mazda  as  comprising  within  himself  the 
conflicting  powers  of  good  and  evil,  designated  respectively  as 
Spenta  Mainyu,  'Holy  Spirit,'  and  Angra  Mainyu,  '  Evil  Spirit,' 
and  that  their  views  in  this  respect,  and  possibly  under  the 
influence  of  Bombay,  would  agree  with  the  monotheistic  tenets 
upheld  by  the  Parsis  of  India  to-day,  who  stoutly  deny  the 
allegation  that  Zoroastrianism  teaches  pure  dualism.1  They 
believe  also  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  or  are  acquainted, 
at  least,  with  this  doctrine,  which  their  faith  has  taught  since 
early  times  ;  and  my  informant  promptly  gave  me  the  tech- 
nical term  (Pahlavi  ristdkhez,  Mod.  Pers.  ristdkhlz)  for  the 
'rising  of  the  dead.'  The  Messianic  doctrine  of  a  Saoshyant, 
or  Savior,  appeared  likewise  to  be  well  known. 

When  hearing  the  High  Priest  recite  passages  from  the 
Avesta  and  when  listening  to  a  Mobed  as  well  as  a  layman  read 
from  the  sacred  texts  lying  before  us,  I  was  struck  by  certain 
peculiarities  of  pronunciation  that  are  worthy  of  note.  For 
some  of  the  striking  features  I  was  prepared  through  a  previ- 
ous study  of  the  variations  in  the  Iranian  manuscripts  of  the 
Avesta,  used  by  Geldner  for  his  great  edition  of  the  Avesta,  and 
through  my  observation  of  the  pronunciation  of  the  Parsi 
priests  in  India  ; 2  but  some  of  the  peculiarities  and  cer- 
tain phonetic  inconsistencies  in  reproducing  the  words  were 
quite  unexpected.  What  I  noticed  most  was  the  fact  that  the 
Avestan  letters  th,  ph,  dh,  gh,  and  generally  kh,  which  are 
presumed  historically  to  have  been  spirants,  as  in  English  kith, 
burthen  (for  burden),  and  German  hoch,  were  pronounced  as 
ordinary  t,  d,  g,  k,  or  occasionally  as  aspirates  t\  d\  g\  k',  (th, 

1  On  the  whole  subject  of  dualism,  2  Many  of  the  phonetic  features  are 

see  the  views  expressed  in  my  article  common  in  the  ordinary  pronunciation 

in   Orundr.    iran.   Philol.  2.626-631,  of  the  Indian  Parsis,  except  among 

647-649,  663.  the  trained  scholars. 


364  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

dh,  gh,  kh')  :  for  example,  atha,  '  so,'  sounded  as  aid  or  at* a, 
athd\  verethraghna,  'Victory.'  The  consonant  t  was  given 
everywhere  as  d  ;  for  example,  cvat,  'as  many  as,'  was  pro- 
nounced like  cawad.  The  secondary  nasal  nh  (nTi)  arising  in 
Avestan  from  an  original  sibilant  was  pronounced  like  nk 
(vank-e-osh,  vank-hi-osh,  or  vank-i-ash,  for  vahhe'ush,  'of  good/ 
and  ank-i-ush  for  anhSush,  'of  the  world').  The  voiced  sibilant 
z  was  pronounced  like  the  English  z,  and  the  Avestan  letter  for 
zh  could  not  be  distinguished  from  our/  (or  from/,,/*),  while 
the  previously  mentioned  th  occasionally  interchanged  with  «,  as 
in  the  Avestan  manuscripts  (serish  for  thrish,  '  thrice '),  thus 
coming  near  to  the  earlier  spirant  character  of  the  sound  th  than 
does  the  pronunciation  t  or  t'  in  vogue  among  the  priests  as  in- 
dicated above.  The  vowels  a,  0,  w,  were  frequently  confused 
with  each  other,  and  i  was  shaded  in  the  direction  of  e  (yeheshta, 
'best/  for  vahbhta),  while  certain  of  the  diphthongs  were 
merged  into  simple  vowels  (ao  in  mraot,  'he  spoke/  pronounced 
as  u,  marud).  The  anaptyctic  and  epenthetic  vowels  were 
clearly  marked:  thus,  pa-i~ti,  'against/ 

A  few  illustrations  of  the  general  characteristics  of  the  pro- 
nunciation will  suffice.  The  name  of  the  prophet  Zoroaster, 
in  the  nominative  form  Zarathushtro,  was  pronounced  as 
Zarat^ushtrU)  Zarat^oshtru^  or  even  Zarat^ashtru.  The 
opening  lines  of  the  well-known  Profession  of  Faith,  naisml 
daevo  fravardne  mazdayasnd  zarathushtrish  vidaevo  ahura- 
tkaesho,  '  I  abjure  being  a  Demon-Worshipper,  I  profess 
myself  a  Worshipper  of  Mazda,  a  foe  to  the  demons,  and  a 
believer  in  the  faith  of  Ahura/  were  sounded  like  '  ndismi  diva 
fravardne  mazdayasnu  vldivu  ahura-d-klshu.'  The  sacred 
formula  of  the  Ahuna  Vairya  sounded  on  their  lips  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  pronunciation  generally  given  to  it  in  the  Occi- 
dent, at  least  as  indicated  in  the  accepted  philological  works. 
This  will  be  clear  from  a  comparative  transcript,  first  in  the 
ordinary  transliteration  with  which  we  are  familiar,  and  then 
in  the  transliteration  reproduced  from  the  memoranda  I  made 


PRONUNCIATION   OF  AVESTAN  AT   YEZD  365 

of    the     Yezd    pronunciation,   supplemented   by    notes    from 
Master  Khodabakhsh. 

AHUNA    VAIRYA    STANZA    AS    ORDINARILY    WRITTEN 

yathd  ahu  vairyo  athd  ratush  ashdtcit  hacd 

vanheush  dazdd  mananho  shyaothananam  ahMush  mazddi 

khshathremcd  aliurdi  a  yim  dregubyo  daddt  vdstdrem.1 

AHUNA   VAIRYA    STANZA    AS    PRONOUNCED    AT    YEZD 

(with  the  variant  pronunciations  in  parentheses) 

yatd  (yathd)  alii  vaireyu  atd  (atha)  ratosh  (ratdsh)  ashddacld  hacd 
vank-e-osh  (vanke-hi-osh,  vanh-i-ash)  dazdd  manankahu  she-yu-tananume 

anke-hi-osh  (arik-i-ash)  mazdde 
kashatramcd  (khashatremcd)  ahorde  (ahdrde  or  ahurde)  d  yem  dare- 

gdbe-yu  (dargdbyu)  dadad  vds-e-tdram  (vdwstdrem).2 

For  a  fuller  collection  of  material  to  illustrate  the  pronun- 
ciation I  must  refer  to  a  monograph  on  the  subject  which  I 
hope  soon  to  publish  in  one  of  the  Oriental  journals. 

While  on  the  subject  of  pronunciation  and  the  reading  of  the 
sacred  texts,  I  may  add  an  observation  which  will  not,  however, 
surprise  specialists;  I  refer  to  the  fact  that  the  Acting  High 
Priest  and  also  the  more  scholarly  members  of  the  assembly 
were  unaware  that  a  great  part  of  the  Younger  Avesta  is  com- 
posed in  metre.  The  idea  of  verse  and  verse-structure  appeared 
wholly  new  to  them,  when  I  read  for  them  a  portion  of  the  Horn 
Yasht  metrically  in  the  manner  that  is  familiar  to  students  in 
the  West.  In  all  such  matters  it  is  manifest  that  ages  of 
persecution  and  of  neglect  of  their  sacred  lore  have  not  been 
without  a  detrimental  influence  upon  their  technical  knowledge; 
on  the  other  hand,  certain  points  in  their  pronunciation  appear 
to  deserve  the  consideration  of  linguistic  scholars,  because  the 
Persian  Zoroastrians  are  not  affected  by  any  philological  bias 
and  have  remained  practically  free  from  the  Indian  influences 

1  For  the  sake  of  parallelism  I  have  2  The  a  is  sometimes  labialized  to 

here  retained,  with  trifling  modifica-      aw  (Eng.  law}. 
tions,  the  older  transliteration  of  Justi. 


366  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF    YEZD 

that  may  have  affected,  in  some  respects,  the  pronunciation  of  the 
Parsis  of  Bombay.1 

By  this  time  it  was  considerably  past  mid-day,  and  nearly  an 
hour  more  was  spent  in  examining  the  manuscripts  and  in 
photographing  specimens  of  the  text.  A  rare  privilege  was 
now  accorded  me ;  I  was  invited  by  Tir  Andaz  to  visit  his  fire- 
temple  early  that  afternoon  after  I  had  enjoyed  the  repast 
spread  by  our  host.  I  was  glad  to  accept  at  once  this  oppor- 
tunity to  become  acquainted  with  a  place  of  worship  used  by 
the  Persian  Zoroastrians.  It  was  the  temple  of  the  Atash-i 
Varahrdn,  or  Atash  Bahrdm,  '  Fire  of  Victory,'  situated  in  the 
Parsi  quarter  and  located  next  to  the  house  of  Dastur  Namdar, 
the  priest  who  was  absent  in  India  at  the  moment.  It  is  the 
chief  Zoroastrian  sanctuary  of  Yezd,  although  there  are  three 
other  fire-shrines  or  chapels,  designated  either  as  Dar-i  Mihr  or 
Adaridn,  besides  one  such  minor  place  of  worship  in  every 
Zoroastriau  village  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city.2 

Upon  reaching  the  temple  I  found  it  to  be  a  simple,  unpre- 
tentious building.  From  its  exterior  and  from  the  entrance  it 
would  hardly  have  been  possible  to  recognize  it  as  a  temple  at 
all.  Mohammedanism  allows  no  rivals  to  its  beautiful  mosques 
with  turquoise  domes,  arabesque  arches,  and  slender  tessellated 
minarets.  The  splendor  of  the  ancient  temple  of  Anaitis  at 
Ecbatana,  from  which,  as  I  have  described  above,  conquerors 
carried  off  untold  wealth  in  gold  and  silver  plate,  the  grand 
ruins  of  Kangavar  and  the  gorgeous  display  at  the  Shrine  of 
Fire  in  Shiz,  under  the  Sasanian  kings,  belong  to  ages  long 
since  dead.3 

Before  reaching  the  main  room  of  the  sanctuary  at  Yezd  it 

1  It  is  only  the  younger  generation  2  The  name  Dar-i  Mihr,  '  Shrine  of 

of  Zoroastrian  students  at  Yezd  that  Mihr'  (used also  in  India)  contains  a 

has  coine  into  close  contact  with  the  reminiscence  of  the  ancient  Mithraic 

Zoroastrians  of  India,  through  the  in-  worship,  but  is  now  used  (like  Adar- 

fluence  of  Master  Khodabakhsh  and  a  idn,  '  pyraea')  merely  as  a  designation 

few  other  scholars  who  have  been  in  for  a  small  chapel  or  shrine  of  fire. 

Bombay.  s  See  pp.  131-143,  above. 


A    VISIT   TO    THE  FIRE-TEMPLE  367 

was  necessary  to  pass  through  several  corridors  and  an  ante- 
chamber, all  of  which  help  to  render  the  shrine  safer  from 
desecration.  On  one  side  of  the  last  passageway  I  observed  a 
pile  of  short  logs,  one  or  two  feet  long  and  several  inches  thick, 
that  were  used  as  fuel  for  the  holy  flame  ;x  it  appeared  to  be  'well- 
dried  and  well-examined  wood,'  as  the  Avesta  enjoins.2  From 
the  anteroom  I  entered  the  large  oblong  chamber,  or  chapel, 
adjoining  the  sanctum  sanctorum  in  which  the  fire  was  kept. 
My  ear  caught  at  once  the  voice  of  the  white-robed  priests  who 
were  chanting  in  the  presence  of  the  sacred  element  a  hymn  of 
praise  sung  by  Zoroaster  of  old.  It  was  a  glorification  of 
Verethraghna,  the  Angel  of  Victory,  in  the  Bahram  Yasht,  and 
I  felt  a  thrill  as  I  heard  the  Avestan  verses — verethraghnem 
ahuradhdtem  yazamaide,  4we  worship  the  Angel  of  Victory, 
created  by  Ahura' —  ring  out  from  behind  the  walled  recess 
where  the  fire  was  hidden.  The  door  was  open  and  I  stood 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  fire,  so  as  to  listen,  but  I  made  no 
attempt  to  see  the  flame,  as  I  knew  such  a  step  would  be 
regarded  as  a  profanation  and  might  bar  the  way  to  other  privi- 
leges which  I  wished  to  enjoy.  It  seemed  an  unusual  experience 
thus  to  be  standing  in  a  fire-temple  in  Zoroaster's  own  land 
and  listening  to  the  priests  of  his  hereditary  line  chanting  verses 
from  the  sacred  texts  as  had  been  done  for  nearly  three  thousand 
years.  The  voice  of  the  zot,  or  officiating  priest,  was  high,  nasal, 
and  resonant,  and  his  intonation  was  so  rapid  that  he  had  to 
pause  at  times  to  catch  his  breath ;  while  his  assistant,  the  raspl, 
chanted  in  a  lower  key  or  accompanied  his  recitation  in  a  nasal 
minor  key  with  great  rapidity  of  utterance.3  Each  of  the  cele- 
brants wore  over  his  mouth  the  paitiddna,  a  small  white  veil 
prescribed  by  the  Avesta  to  be  worn  over  the  lips  when  before 


1  Cf.  Vd.  3.  1.  heard  in  Bombay  and  Udvada,  and  I 

2  Cf.  Vd.  14.  2  ;  18.  27,  71.  observed  the  same  peculiarities  in  pro- 

3  The  intonation  of  both  the  priests  nunciation  that  I  had  observed  in  the 
was  loud  and  resonant  and  more  swift  conference  of  the  forenoon. 

than  that  of  the  Parsi  dasturs  I  had 


368  THE  ZOROASTRIANS   OF    YEZD 

the  fire,  in  order  to  prevent  the  breath  and  spittle  from  defiling 
the  hallowed  flame. 

I  almost  fell  into  a  revery  as  I  listened  to  this  monotonous 
chanting  of  the  Yasht ;  but  the  hymn  was  soon  ended,  and  the 
veiled  priests  came  out  from  the  presence  of  the  fire  and  were 
kind  enough  to  allow  me  to  take  their  photograph,  although 
the  light  was  too  dim  to  secure  a  good  picture. 

While  speaking  of  pictures  I  may  mention  a  so-called  por- 
trait of  Zoroaster  hanging  on  the  wall  of  this  main  chamber. 
I  had  heard  of  it  a  number  of  years  before,  and  when  writing 
my  book  on  the  Prophet  of  Ancient  Iran  I  had  expressed  a 
keen  desire  to  see  it.1  My  conference  with  Tir  Andaz  in  the 
forenoon,  when  he  gave  me  the  meagre  information  that  he  had 
about  its  possible  remote  connection  with  Balkh,  had  prepared 
me  for  disappointment  as  to  its  value,  but  I  did  not  expect  to 
find  it  of  so  little  importance.  The  picture  is  merely  a  modern 
colored  print,  apparently  a  cheap  Parsi  chromolithograph  from 
India,  perhaps  not  twenty  years  old,  and  of  no  historic  interest. 
It  is  a  variety  of  the  familiar  representation  based  on  the  Tak-i 
Bostan  sculpture ; 2  but  the  staff  is  not  fluted,  as  in  the  sculp- 
ture, the  top  is  capped  with  a  symbolic  flame,  as  in  other  modern 
representations  current  among  the  Parsis  in  India,  and  the  lower 
end  of  the  staff  rests  upon  the  ground.  This  colored  picture  was 
the  only  decoration  I  noticed  on  the  bare,  whitewashed  walls. 

At  the  rear  of  the  chamber  there  was  a  gallery  used  on 
occasions  when  a  considerable  number  of  the  Zardushtian  com- 
munity come  together,  as  at  the  Gahanbar  season,  the  Farvadin 
festival,  on  some  commemorative  day,  or  at  some  special  cele- 
bration. The  gatherings  on  such  occasions  are  the  nearest 
approach  that  the  Zoroastrians  have  to  the  assembling  of  a 
congregation  in  church,  for  they  have  nothing  that  corresponds 
precisely  to  our  general  Sunday  worship. 

The  Acting  High  Priest  now  opened  a  door  leading  into  a 
small  side-chamber  to  the  right  of  the  sanctum  where  the  fire 

1  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  288-289.  2  See  pp.  216-218,  above. 


THE   ZOROASTRIAN  RITUAL  369 

was  kept.  It  was  a  room  arranged  as  an  Izashnah  G-dh,  a  place 
set  apart  for  the  performance  of  religious  ceremonies  and 
priestly  rites.  The  floor  was  built  of  stone  and  was  cemented 
and  marked  off  into  little  channels  (pdvi)  or  grooves  (hash), 
to  enclose  the  space  within  which  the  priest  sat  while  conduct- 
ing the  ritual,  as  I  had  witnessed  in  the  halls  adjoining  the 
Parsi  temples  in  India.1  A  lambskin,  used  apparently  as  a 
seat,  was  lying  on  the  floor,  and  there  were  small,  low  stone 
stools  such  as  are  generally  employed  in  the  Izashnah  Gah,  be- 
sides a  number  of  sacrificial  utensils.  Among  the  latter  were 
the  cups  for  holding  consecrated  water,  milk,  and  the  juice  of 
the  ^Jra-plant  (Av.  haoma),  from  which  the  sacred  drink  was 
prepared  in  ancient  times,  as  nowadays,  and  partaken  of  by  the 
priest  as  a  part  of  the  ceremony. 

The  haoma,  as  is  well  known,  corresponds  to  the  soma  of 
Vedic  India,  which  grows  on  the  mountains,2  and  the  two 
branches  which  the  priest  gave  me  came  from  the  mountain 
heights  some  distance  from  Yezd.  In  addition  to  this  and  the 
urvard  hadhdnaepatd,  or  pomegranate,3  there  is  still  another  plant 
employed  in  the  sacrifice,  and  it  has  been  used  in  the  Magian 
ritual  since  time  immemorial.  It  is  the  barsom  (Av.  baresmari), 
the  twigs  or  sprays  of  which  are  tied  in  a  bundle  at  a  certain 
point  in  the  sacrifice,  corresponding  in  a  distant  manner  to  the 
barhis,  or  straw,  strewn  as  a  seat  for  the  divinities  in  the  Vedic 
ceremonies  of  old.  In  Yezd  the  tamarisk  bush  is  used  to  form 
this  bundle,  and  it  is  bound  with  a  slender  strip  of  bark  from 

1 1  refer  to  the  so-called  urvls-gdh  3d  ed.,  pp.  392-409  ;  cf.  likewise  my 

connected    with   the    fire-temples    at  note  in  JAOS.   22.  321. 
Udvada,  Navsari,  and  Bombay.      For  2  gee  YS.  10.  3,  and  Rig  Veda  5.  85. 

a  photograph  and  a  description  of  the  2  ;  10.  34.1. 

latter,  together  with  a  representation  3  The  Zoroastrians  of  Yezd,  like  the 

of  the  various  implements  and  uten-  Indian  Parsis,  agree  in  regarding  the 

sils    employed    in    the    sacrifice,    see  pomegranate  as  the  representative  of 

Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.    1.  in  trod.  p.  72  the  Avestan  urvard  hadhdnaepatd  ;  on 

(pi.  4),   and  compare  the  interesting  the  latter,  compare  Haug,  Essays  on 

notes  descriptive  of  some  Parsi  cere-  the  Parsis,  pp.  251,   399,   and  West, 

monies,  by  Haug,  Essays  on  the  Parsis,  SBE.  37.  186. 

2B 


370  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF    YEZD 

the  mulberry  tree,  probably  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  it 
was  in  Zoroaster's  day.1  Brass  rods  are  sometimes  substituted 
for  the  twigs,  as  is  done  by  the  Parsis  in  India,  but  at  Yezd 
this  substitution  is  made  only  in  winter,  when  it  is  impossible 
to  procure  the  branches,  or  at  some  particular  time  when  it  is 
impracticable  to  obtain  them.  It  was  the  use  of  these  very 
branches,  perhaps,  that  the  Prophet  Ezekiel  denounced  as  an 
abomination  to  God  when  he  saw  in  a  vision  'about  five  and 
twenty  men,  with  their  backs  toward  the  temple  of  the  Lord, 
and  their  faces  toward  the  east,  and  they  worshipped  the  sun 
toward  the  east, . .  .  and,  lo,  they  put  the  branch  to  their  nose.'2 

I  saw  the  large  tamarisk  bush  from  which  the  sprays  were 
cut  for  use  in  the  barsom  ceremony ;  it  was  of  a  light  green 
color,  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  high,  and  stood  in  the  garden 
adjoining  the  rear  of  the  temple.  A  high  wall  shut  in  the 
garden  at  the  back;  a  gallery  ran  part  of  the  way  around 
the  enclosure  ;  a  flight  of  steep  steps  led  down  from  this  to  the 
ground,  where  there  were  blossoming  rose  bushes,  sweet-scented 
shrubs  and  plants,  a  pomegranate  tree,  and  the  tamarisk  bush. 
Tir  Andaz  cut  off  from  this  three  handsome  sprigs,  each  nearly 
two  feet  long,  and  presented  them  to  me.  They  were  slender 
and  delicate,  covered  with  downy  fibrous  leaves,  and  look 
graceful  even  in  the  dried  form  in  which  I  now  have  them.3 

Besides  the  sacred  plants,  perfumes  (baodhi),  bread-offerings 
(draonali,  myazda),  consecrated  water,  the  haoma^  and  milk,  the 
Avesta  frequently  refers  to  the  cow  (g&o)  in  connection  with 
the  Yasna  ceremony.  Like  their  Parsi  brethren  in  India,  the 
Zoroastrians  of  Persia  interpret  the  Avestan  words  gao  jlvya, 

1  The  Avestan  words  employed  in  2  Ezekiel  8.  16,  17. 

connection  with  the  bardsman  indicate  8  My  friend  Mr.  Percy  Bodenstab, 

that  the  twigs  were  originally  spread  of    Yonkers,  has  made  a  drawing  of 

(star-,  frastzrdta-},  then  gathered  into  the  sprays  (here  reproduced)  in  a  re- 

a  bundle  and  bound  (yah-,  aiwydsta-,  duced  size  ;  to  convey  a  clearer  idea  it 

aiwy&whana-} ;  see  the  references  un-  would  be  necessary  to  reclothe   the 

der  each  of  these  words  in  Bartholo-  branches  with  the  softest  green  color 

mae,  Air.  Wb.  pp.  98,  947,  1290,  1595.  imaginable. 


\\  •. 


SPRAYS  OF  THE  BARSOM  PLANT 


SACRIFICIAL   CEREMONIES  371 

lit.  '  living  cow,'  as  goat's  milk  (Pers.  shir),  and  similarly  em- 
ploy an  egg  and  melted  butter  to  represent  the  gao  hudhdh, 
lit.  'beneficent  cow,'  in  the  ceremony.  The  faithful  of 
both  communities  agree  in  regarding  the  true  Zoroastrian  sacri- 
fice to  be  a  bloodless  sacrifice,  an  offering  of  'good  thoughts, 
good  words,  good  deeds,'  accompanied  by  praise  and  thanks- 
giving, with  appropriate  ceremonies.  Such  was  the  sacrifice 
offered  by  Zoroaster  himself  in  the  Yashts,  after  the  manner  of 
Ahura  Mazda,1  although  the  A  vesta  does  allude  to  the  sacrifice 
of  animals,  once,  for  example,  in  the  Yasna,  and  several  times  in 
the  Yashts,  which  represent  Vishtaspa  and  the  heroes  of  old  as 
sacrificing  thousands  of  animals,  some  of  which  must  have  been 
slain  as  a  blood- offering.2 

A  possible  survival  of  the  ancient  custom  of  animal  sacrifice 
may  survive  at  Yezd,  down  to  the  present,  in  the  celebration  of 
the  Jashn-i  Mihrgan, '  Sacrifice  to  Mithra,'  although  the  views  on 
this  subject  may  differ.3  This  festival  falls  on  the  day  of 
Mihr,  in  the  month  of  Mihr  (February-March),  and  is  an  impor- 
tant one  among  the  Persian  Zoroastrians,  as  they  prolong  it  for 
five  days,  till  the  day  of  Bahram,  or  Verethraghna.  According 
to  the  account  I  received,  it  commemorates  the  victory  gained 
by  Feridun  (Avestan  Thraetaona)  over  the  Babylonian  tyrant 
Zohak  (Avestan  Azhi  Dahdka),  whose  cruel  rule  oppressed  Iran 
for  a  thousand  years.  '  The  Persian  Zoroastrians  used  to  be- 
lieve, and  some  of  them  still  believe,'  as  my  authority  informed 

1  See  Yt.  5.  17,  104  ;  9.  25  ;  17.  44  who,  it  should  be  noticed,  attributes  the 
(rendering  gava  each  time  as  'milk').  origin  of  the  custom  to  Mohammedan 

2  See  Ys.  11.  4  ;  Yt.  5.  21,  25,  33,  influence  after  the  Arab  conquest,  like 
108  ;  Yt.  9.  25 ;  compare  also  the  de-  the  sacrifices  at  the  feast   lld-i  kur- 
scription  of  the  Magian  sacrifice  given  6aw,  referred  to  above,  p.   162,  n.    1. 
by  Herodotus,  History,  1.  132.     Ob-  The  opinion  of  the  Parsis    in   India 
serve  likewise  that  on  the  eve  of  battle  would  also  be  in  favor  of  his  view.    See 
(Yt.  5.  68)  Jamaspa  himself  offers  an  Modi,  Meher  ane  Jashne  Meherangan 
animal  sacrifice.  (Mithra  and  the  Feast  of  Mithras), 

8  The  notes  which  I  present  on  the  Bombay,  1889  ;  cf.  also  Marquart,  Un- 
Jashn-i  Mihrgan  are  given  on  the  au-  tersuchungen  zur  GeschichtevonEran, 
thority  of  Khodabakhsh  Bahram  Rai's,  2.  132-136,  Leipzig,  1905. 


372  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

me, '  that  at  this  festival  Feridun  sacrificed  sheep  and  bade  his 
subjects  to  follow  his  example  in  this  respect,  and  to  eat,  drink, 
and  be  merry,  because  of  the  overthrow  of  their  arch-enemy. 
It  was  accounted  meritorious,  therefore,  to  celebrate  the  occa- 
sion joyfully  and  to  sacrifice  a  sheep  or  a  goat  in  every  house, 
or,  if  the  family  were  poor,  to  kill  a  chicken.  The  priests 
themselves  at  first  used  to  kill  the  animals,  but  the  people  after- 
ward did  this  at  home,  sprinkling  some  of  the  blood  on  the 
door-posts  and  over  the  lintel,  and  cooking  the  rest  of  the 
blood  with  suet  and  onions,  as  a  dish  to  be  eaten  with  unleav- 
ened bread.1  Since  it  was  regarded  not  merely  as  a  sacrifice  but 
as  a  burnt-offering  unto  Mihr-i  Irdn-ddvar,  '  Mithra,  Judge  of 
Iran,'  the  flesh  of  the  sheep  and  goats,  when  roasted,  was  car- 
ried to  the  fire-temple,  prayers  were  said  over  it  by  the  priests, 
to  whom  a  share  of  the  flesh  was  given,  a  portion  was  set 
aside  for  distribution  among  the  poor,  and  the  remainder 
was  taken  home  to  be  eaten  by  the  family  and  their  friends.' 
Such  is  the  account  I  received  from  my  informant,  who  added, 
*  this  custom  is  now  dying  out ;  the  people  are  becoming  wiser 
and  saner,  and  outgrowing  this  cruel  practice  and  bloody  rite, 
which  the  Parsis  of  India  do  not  recognize  and  like  which  they 
have  nothing.' 

After  leaving  the  fire-temple  I  asked  if  I  might  visit  the 
Barashnum  Gah,  a  place  set  apart  for  the  performance  of  the  ab- 
lution for  nine  nights,  as  I  shall  describe  in  the  next  chapter. 
Since  it  was  situated  in  another  street  I  had  an  opportunity, 
both  when  going  and  returning,  to  see  more  of  the  Parsi  quar- 
ter of  the  town  and  make  further  observations  as  to  the  com- 
munity and  its  general  condition.  As  there  are  about  eight 
thousand  Gabars  in  Yezd,  they  occupy  a  not  inconsiderable  sec- 
tion of  the  city.  It  is  known  as  the  Mahallah-i  Pusht-i  Khdn-i 
All,  or  Mahallah-i  Pusht-i  Khdnah-i  All,  'the  Quarter  in  the 
Bear  of  Khan  Ali,  or  of  Ali's  House,'  and  I  subsequently  learned 

1  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  resem-  custom  and  the  observances  of  the 
"blance  between  this  old-time  Persian  Jewish  Passover. 


THE   GABAR    QUARTER   OF    YEZD  373 

that  they  have  a  tradition  current  among  them  as  to  the  origin 
of  this  name.  The  common  belief  is  that  the  designation  by 
Ali's  name  is  due  to  a  device  resorted  to  by  the  worship- 
pers of  Mazda  in  order  to  escape  persecution  at  the  hands  of 
their  Mohammedan  enemies  after  the  Arab  conquest.  They 
pretended,  it  is  said,  that  AH,  the  cousin  and  son-in-law  of 
Mohammed,  had  a  house  in  this  part  of  Yezd  and  that  he  set- 
tled the  Zoroastrians  here,  in  order  to  shield  them  from  perse- 
cution; and  that  they  were  Ali's  cowherds.  In  support  of  this 
claim  they  cleverly  urged  the  plea  that  the  name  G-abr-dn,  'Infi- 
dels,' by  which  they  were  stigmatized,  and  the  modern  pronun- 
ciation of  which  among  the  Parsis  of  Yezd  would  be  Gravr-iin  or 
G-avr-dn,  really  meant  G-av-rdn, '  cow-keeper,'  and  that  as  Gabars 
the  Zoroastrians  were  therefore  worthy  of  Moslem  protection. 
As  I  know  through  Khodabakhsh  Bahram  Ra'is,  the  better  edu- 
cated among  them  regard  this  explanation  of  the  name  of  the  quar- 
ter as  a  mere  fiction,  a  piece  of  popular  etymology,  and  they 
suggest  a  more  probable  interpretation.  The  name  Ali,  they  say, 
is  not  an  uncommon  one  among  the  Persians,  and  this  was  prob- 
ably the  name  of  a  land-owner,  or  wealthy  Khan  (Pers.  Khdri), 
who  had  a  caravan  sarai  outside  the  olcf  part  of  Yezd,  near 
where  the  Parsi  quarter  now  is,  and  the  Zoroastrians  settled 
there,  4  back  of  Khdn  Ali '  (not  khdnah,  4  house ' ),  so  that 
the  designation  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  house  of  Ali,  the 
successor  of  Mohammed. 

Some  details  regarding  the  general  condition  of  the  so-called 
Gabars  in  Yezd  and  its  environs  may  be  of  interest.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  Zoroastrians  who  live  outside  of  the  city  itself, 
especially  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  flourishing  town  of  Taft, 
are  occupied  in  gardening  and  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Avesta,  as  I  have  already  stated,1  agriculture  is 
one  of  the  noblest  of  all  employments,  because  he  who  sows 
grain,  sows  righteousness,  and  one  of  the  most  joyous  spots  on 
earth  is  the  place  where  one  of  the  faithful  sows  grain  and 

1  See  p.  246,  above. 


374  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

grass  and  fruit-bearing  trees,  or  where  he  waters  ground  that 
is  too  dry  and  dries  ground  that  is  too  wet.1 

The  Zoroastrians  who  dwell  within  the  city  are  largely  oc- 
cupied in  trading.2  This  privilege  was  not  accorded  them  until 
about  fifty  years  ago,  and  they  are  even  now  subject  to  certain 
restrictions  and  exactions  to  which  no  Mohammedan  would  be 
liable.  They  are  not  allowed,  for  instance,  to  sell  food  in  the  ba- 
zaars, inasmuch  as  that  would  be  an  abomination  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Moslems,  who  regard  them  as  unbelievers  and  therefore 
unclean.  Until  1882  they  were  oppressed  by  the  jazla  tax,  a 
poll  tax  imposed  upon  them  as  non-believers,  and  this  gave  an 
opportunity  for  grinding  them  down  by  extortionate  assessments 
and  trading- tolls.  The  jazia  was  finally  repealed  by  Shah 
Nasr  ad-Din,  who  issued  a  firman  to  that  effect,  September  27, 
1882.  It  was  largely  owing  to  influences  brought  to  bear  upon 
him  by  the  Parsis  of  Bombay  that  the  Shah  was  led  to  make 
this  liberal-minded  move.  They  worked  through  the  agency  of 
the  Society  for  the  Amelioration  of  the  Zoroastrians  in  Persia, 
which  they  had  founded  with  an  endowed  fund  in  1854,  send- 
ing at  the  same  time  a  representative  to  Iran  to  look  after  the 
interests  of  their  co-religionists.3  Up  to  the  time  of  the  Shah's 
firman,  a  Zoroastrian  was  not  allowed  to  build  an  upper  story 
on  his  house,  or,  in  fact,  erect  a  dwelling  whose  height  ex- 
ceeded the  upstretched  arm  of  a  Musulman  when  standing  on 
the  ground.4  Even  within  a  year  after  the  firman  was  issued, 
a  Zoroastrian  in  one  of  the  neighboring  villages  is  said  to  have 
had  to  flee  for  his  life  because  he  had  ventured  to  go  beyond 
the  traditional  limits  and  add  an  upper  room  to  his  abode, 


1  See  Vd.  3.  31  and  Vd.  3.  4.  8For  an  account  of  the  efforts  for 

2  The  Zoroastrians  in  general  appear  the  abolition  of  this  tax,  see  Dosabhai 
to  have  an  especial  aptitude  for  busi-  Framji  Karaka,  History  of  the  Parsis, 
ness,  and  they  appear  rather  to  accept  1.  72-82,  London,  1884 ;  cf.  also  p.  397, 
than  reject  the  designation  « Jews  of  below. 

the  East '  that  is  sometimes  applied  to  4  The  comparative  scarcity  of  upper 

them  because    of    their    commercial  stories  on  the  houses  in  the  Gabar 

activity.  quarter  is  still  noticeable. 


I 

3  g 


RESTRICTIONS   ON   THE   ZOROASTRIANS  375 

and  another  Gabar,  who  was  mistaken  for  him,  was  killed  by 
the  enraged  Musulmans.1 

As  regards  their  dress,  moreover,  the  Zoroastrians  have  al- 
ways been  obliged  to  adopt  a  style  that  would  distinguish  them 
from  the  Mohammedans,  and  it  is  only  within  the  last  ten  years 
that  they  could  wear  any  color  except  yellow,  gray,  or  brown, 
and  the  wearing  of  white  stockings  was  long  interdicted.  The 
use  of  spectacles  and  eye-glasses,  and  the  privilege  of  carrying  an 
umbrella,  have  been  allowed  only  within  the  same  decade,  and 
even  now  the  Gabars  are  not  permitted  to  ride  in  the  streets  or 
to  make  use  of  the  public  baths  (hamdiri):,  but  the  latter  pro- 
hibition, as  they  told  me,  is  no  longer  a  hardship,  because  they 
have  built  a  bathing-establishment  for  their  own  use.  A  score 
of  petty  annoyances  that  they  have  to  undergo  might  be 
cited  in  addition  to  the  more  serious  disqualifications;  but 
enough  have  been  given  to  show  the  disadvantages  under  which 
they  labor  and  the  persecutions  to  which  they  are  exposed. 

In  1898  the  present  Shah,  Muzaffar  ad-Din,  sought  to  relieve 
their  condition  further  by  issuing  a  firman  revoking  the  formal 
disabilities  from  which  they  suffered.  While  imperfectly  ob- 
served, this  decree  has  contributed,  in  spirit  at  least,  to  bet- 
tering their  position.  The  spread  of  Babist  doctrines,  which 
favor  religious  liberty  and  toleration,  has  possibly  contributed 
also  by  lessening  intolerance  on  the  part  of  the  Mohammedans. 
The  presence  of  Europeans  has  likewise  had  a  salutary  effect 
and  aided  considerably  in  the  general  advance.  But  the  most 
has  been  done  by  the  Bombay  Society  for  the  Amelioration  of 
the  Zoroastrians  in  Persia,  whose  funds  have  helped  the  Gabars 
and  whose  reform  measures  have  tended  to  their  general  good, 
so  that  their  numbers  have  increased  considerably  within  the 

1  For  this  point  and  the  next,  see  able  to  incorporate  one  or  two  refer- 
Malcolm,  Five  Years  in  a  Persian  ences,  and  I  would  recommend  to  the 
Town,  pp.  46,  49,  London  and  New  reader's  attention  Mr.  Malcolm's  re- 
York,  1905.  This  interesting  book  on  marks  on  the  restrictions  in  general 
life  at  Yezd  appeared  after  the  present  upon  the  Gabars  (pp.  44-53). 
chapter  was  written,  but  I  have  been 


376  THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   YEZD 

last  fifty  years.1  Nevertheless,  they  still  do  not  feel  themselves 
free  from  oppression,  and  they  constantly  have  to  avoid  trouble 
and  persecution  by  yielding  to  Moslem  prejudice.  In  fact,  their 
lives  are  in  danger  whenever  the  fanatical  spirit  of  Islam 
breaks  out,  as  was  the  case  about  a  month  after  I  was  in  Yezd. 
A  general  Musulman  rising  then  took  place  against  the  Babis, 
a  large  number  of  whom  belonging  to  the  Behai  branch 
are  found  at  Yezd.  These  Babis  were  massacred  by  scores, 
and  even  hundreds,  or  were  subjected  to  shocking  outrages 
and  cruel  indignities.  The  Zoroastrians  feared  that  they 
would  suffer  the  same  fate,  and  I  was  informed  on  the  authority 
of  one  who  had  witnessed  the  horrors  that  such  might  have 
been  the  case  if  the  fanatical  wave  had  not  been  broken  in  its 
course  by  the  prompt  and  energetic  intervention  of  the  Euro- 
peans in  telegraphic  communication  with  the  authorities  in 
power  at  Teheran. 

The  organization  of  the  Zoroastrian  community  at  Yezd  has 
already  been  indicated  in  a  general  way.  The  spiritual  guid- 
ance is  in  the  hands  of  the  priesthood  (dasturs,  mobeds,  and 
herbeds),  but  the  authority  which  they  exercise  is  greatly  lim- 
ited by  the  fact  that  those  who  do  not  wish  for  any  reason  to 
accept  it  can  simply  throw  it  off  and  act  in  accordance  with 
the  rule  of  the  Moslems  around  them.2  In  civic  matters  the 
community  is  under  the  leadership  of  a  synod,  the  Anjuman 
(Av.  hanjamana, 4  assembly,  convention'),  headed  by  a  kaldntar, 
or  mayor,  the  present  incumbent  of  that  office  being  Kalantar 
Dinyar  Bahram,  whose  hospitality  I  have  described,  and  whose 


1  In  1854  the  number  of  Zoroastrians  Ardeshir  Reporter,    Secretary  of  the 

in  the  vicinity  of  Yezd  was  given  at  Society  for  the   Amelioration  of  the 

6658    souls  (Karaka,    History  of  the  Zoroastrians). 

Parsis,  1.  55)  ;  in  1882  as  about  6483  2  For  the  relations  between  the  spir- 

(Houtum-Schindler,    Die    Parsen    in  itual  and  temporal  powers  in  ancient 

Persien,  in  ZDMG.  26.  54)  ;  in  1903  times,    see    Wilhelm,  Kingship    and 

as  between  8000  and  8500,  including  Priesthood  in  Ancient  Eran,  pp.  1-21, 

the  environs  of  Yezd  (these  last  figures  Bombay,  1892  (translated  from  his  Ger- 

being  given  to  me  in  Teheran  by  Mr.  man  treatise  in  ZDMG.  40.  102-110). 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   ZOROASTRIAN   COMMUNITY      377 

official  duties  often  take  him  to  Kerman,  Anar,  and  other 
towns  in  this  region  where  there  are  Zoroastrians. 

With  the  Kalantar's  young  son  Bahram  I  formed  a  friend- 
ship in  the  short  time  of  my  stay,  for  he  acted  as  my  guide 
round  the  city  and  through  the  mazes  of  the  bazaar.  He  was 
a  bright,  intelligent  fellow,  straightforward  and  honest,  manly 
in  his  bearing,  and  agreeable  in  his  manners.  I  could  picture 
from  him  what  might  have  been  the  type  of  youth  in  Zoroaster's 
day,  since  the  blood  of  the  ancient  faith  flowed  in  his  veins  by 
direct  descent.  I  liked  his  naturalness  and  lack  of  affectation, 
and  certain  of  his  characteristics  were  charmingly  naive,  for 
when  I  took  his  photograph  he  instinctively  plucked  a  rose  to 
hold  in  his  hand  (for  a  true  Persian  portrait  would  be  artis- 
tically incomplete  without  a  rose),  and  in  the  other  hand  he 
held  up  to  view  his  European  watch.  I  could  understand  his 
pride  in  this  respect,  since  a  Zoroastrian  would  not  have  been 
allowed  some  years  ago  to  carry  a  watch  or  even  to  wear  a  ring. 

Benevolence  is  a  Zoroastrian  characteristic,  and  the  Avesta 
inculcates  the  virtue  of  generosity.  Many  of  the  Parsis  of 
Yezd  live  up  to  this  doctrine  so  far  as  their  limited  means  will 
allow.  As  an  instance  of  this  I  may  cite  the  following 
example.  When  the  English  Christian  Mission  at  Yezd  was 
in  need  of  quarters  for  its  hospital  —  a  branch  of  their  work 
with  which  the  Parsis  especially  sympathized  —  a  prosperous 
Gabar  merchant,  named  Gudarz  Mihrban,  came  forward  and 
donated  to  the  cause  a  large  caravansarai  and  its  property, 
including  a  house  that  adjoined  it.  The  structure  of  this  erst- 
while halting-place  for  caravans  lent  itself  in  a  remarkable 
manner  to  the  uses  to  which  it  was  now  to  be  put :  the  central 
court  that  once  was  filled  with  camels,  asses,  and  pack-mules 
was  turned  into  a  pretty  garden  ;  and  the  old-time  lodgings 
of  the  camel-drivers  and  muleteers  were  transformed  into 
chambers  and  wards  for  the  Good  Samaritan  work. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 
ZOROASTRIAN   RELIGIOUS  CUSTOMS  AT   YEZD 

*  Ev'n  them  who  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old.' 

—  MILTON,  Sonnet  on  the  Massacre  in  Piemont. 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  I  have  touched  upon  the  religious 
rites  of  the  Zoroastrians  as  connected  with  the  temple  ;  in  the 
present  chapter  I  shall  speak  of  the  religious  aspect  of  their 
home  life,  the  ceremonies  and  customs  observed  in  connection 
with  birth,  bringing-up,  marriage,  and  death.1 

In  respect  to  ceremonies  connected  with  birth,  the  Iranian 
Parsis  differ  from  their  co-religionists  in  Bombay  chiefly 
in  the  scarcity  of  such  observances.  A  few  Zoroastrians  in 
Persia,  like  their  Parsi  brethren  in  India,  call  in  the  services 
of  an  astrologer  (nujumi)  on  the  occasion  of  a  birth  in  their 
family,  and  the  wiseacre  makes  up  the  horoscope  of  the  infant's 
nativity.  The  custom,  if  resorted  to,  has  the  advantage  at 
least  of  preserving  a  record  of  the  child's  day  of  birth,  for  most 
Zoroastrians,  as  I  was  informed,  do  not  know  the  age  of  their 
children,  or  even  the  day,  month,  and  year  of  their  own  birth. 
As  a  rule  the  astrologer  is  a  Mohammedan  ;  a  Parsi  astrologer 
is  far  to  seek,  and  if  found,  he  practises  his  calling  on  the  lines 
of  the  Moslem  astrologer,2  but  with  less  skill  and  cunning  in 
making  his  superstitious  forecast.  Charms  and  amulets  are 
commonly  worn  by  children,  and  it  is  probable  that  this  custom 
is  very  ancient,  antedating  Islam  by  ages.3  In  order  to  avert 

1 1  have  been  able  to  add  largely  to  the          2  The  same  is  true  in  India,  where  the 
notes  taken  at  the  time  through  corre-      method  adopted  is  that  of  the  Hindu 
spondence  with  Master  Khodabakhsh      astrologer  (joshi). 
Bahram  Ra'is,  whose  kindness  I  wish          8  For  the  usage  of  talismans  in  early 
again  to  acknowledge.  times,    including    the     Avesta     (Yt. 

378 


YOUTH  AND  EDUCATION  379 

the  influence  of  the  evil  eye  or  to  cure  a  child  of  some  disease, 
a  parent  will  occasionally  hire  the  mobeds,  or  Zoroastrian  priests, 
to  read  from  the  Yasna,  the  Yashts,  or  the  Khordah  Avesta  ; 1 
and  when  women  are  childless,  they  will  sometimes  pay  to  have 
the  Vendidad  Sadah  recited  by  the  priests,  in  order  that  the 
curse  of  sterility  may  be  removed.  With  reference  to  birthday 
anniversaries,  it  is  needless  to  say  that  they  are  not  observed 
with  any  particular  attention,  for  the  obvious  reason  already 
given.  This  is  in  contrast  to  what  must  have  been  the  custom 
in  ancient  days,  for  Herodotus  says  :  4  The  Persians  honor  their 
birthday  above  all  other  days,  and  on  this  day  they  prepare  a 
feast  more  abundant  than  usual ;  the  rich  serve  up  on  such 
an  occasion  an  ox,  a  horse,  a  camel,  and  an  ass,  roasted 
whole  in  ovens,  and  the  poor  set  on  the  table  smaller  cattle.'2 
The  custom  now  is  practically  forgotten,  although  a  few 
Zoroastrians  who  have  been  in  Bombay,  where  birthdays  are 
festively  celebrated,  do  observe  the  natal  anniversary  (sdl-giriTi) 
of  their  children  by  dressing  the  child  in  new  clothes,  prepar- 
ing savory  dishes,  and  inviting  their  friends  and  relatives  to 
the  feast. 

The  present  education  of  the  Zoroastrian  youth  is  meagre  as 
compared  with  what  it  might  be,  but  all  such  statements  are 
relative,  of  course,  and  depend  upon  the  standard  that  is  used.3 
Until  half  a  century  ago  the  Zoroastrians  were  even  worse  off 
in  the  matter  of  education  than  the  rest  of  the  Persians,  because 
they  either  had  no  schools  or  were  not  allowed  to  have  them. 
Happily  in  the  year  1857  certain  moneys  from  the  Persian 
Zoroastrian  Amelioration  Fund  were  devoted  to  establishing 

14.34-40),  see  Jivanji  Modi,   Charms  1-19)   is  regarded    by  the  Parsis  in 

or  Amulets  for  Some  Diseases  of  the  India  as  especially  efficacious  in  this 

Eye,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Anthropo-  respect. 

logical  Society  of  Bombay,  3.  338-340  2  Herodotus,  History,  1.  133. 

(1894),  and  Nirang-i  Jashan-i  Burzi-  3  For  the  status  of  education  in  pre- 

garan,  ibid.  5.  398-405(1900),  and  An  Mohammedan  times  see  Modi,  Edu- 

Avesta  Amulet,  ibid.  6.  418-425   (July  cation  among    the  Ancient  Iranians 

and  October,  1900).  (reprinted  from    The   Parsi,   vol.  1, 

lrThe    Ardabahisht    Yasht   (Yt.   3.  nos.  2-9),  Bombay,  1905. 


380  ZOROASTRIAN  RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS   AT   YEZD 

and  maintaining  Parsi  schools  in  the  districts  of  Yezd  and  Ker- 
man.1  This  progressive  move  was  brought  about  by  the  energy 
of  the  Bombay  Parsis  and  has  been  carried  on  with  varying 
success  ever  since.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  even  more  ample 
funds  will  be  subscribed  for  this  purpose  and  still  greater  edu- 
cational facilities  afforded  the  Zoroastrians  in  Iran.  The  value 
which  such  increased  advantages  would  have  for  them  is  recog- 
nized by  those  among  their  number  who  have  studied  in  Bombay, 
and  it  is  an  encouraging  sign  to  note  that  members  of  the 
priestly  class  are  now  going  to  India  for  advanced  education 
and  bringing  back  the  seed  of  knowledge  to  sow  once  again  in 
the  Zoroastrian  soil  which  originally  produced  it. 

When  the  Zoroastrian  boy  or  girl  passes  from  childhood  into 
the  period  of  full  youth,  it  is  customary  for  each  to  assume  per- 
sonal responsibility  in  religious  matters  and  be  initiated  into 
the  community  of  the  faithful.  This  confirmation  of  faith,  if 
I  may  so  call  it,  takes  place  between  the  ages  of  seven  and 
fifteen.  In  contrast  to  the  formal  ceremonies  performed  by  the 
Indian  Parsis  when  the  young  novitiate  puts  on  the  sacred 
thread  and  shirt,  there  is  practically  no  religious  ritual  per- 
formed in  Persia.2  The  Iranian  boy  or  girl  simply  puts  on  the 

1  See  Karaka,  History  of  the  Parsis,  anabdata) .     The  wearing  of  the  shirt 
1.  83-89,  and  Malcolm,  Five   Years  in  is  also  alluded  to  (by  implication)  in 
a  Persian  Town,  p.  47,  and  for  a  favor-  the  old  Parsi  Patits,  or  formulas  of 
able  estimate  of  the  Parsi  school  at  confession,  see  for  example  Patit  Adar- 
Yezd  compare  Landor,  Across  Coveted  bat  19,  in  Spiegel,  Avesta  Ubersetzt,  3. 
Lands,  1.  388-389.  213,  Leipzig,  1863  =  tr.  Bleeck,  p.  157, 

2  The  modefn  name  for  the  sacred  London,  1864.     For  the  usage  of  the 
cincture,  or  thread,  is  kosti,  kusti,  or  shirt  and    girdle    in    India    and   the 
kushtl ;  the  Avestan   designation  was  ceremonies  connected  with  assuming 
aiwydnhana,  'girdle'  (Yt.  1.  17;  Ys.  them,   see  Dastur  Jamaspji  Minoche- 
9.  26  ;  Vijirkart-i  Denig,  12,    18,  20 ;  herji,  Navjot  Ceremony,  Bombay,  1887  ; 
Nirangistan,    95).      The    consecrated  Modi,  Eeligious  System  of  the  Parsis, 
shirt  is  now  called  sudrah,  sedrah,  or  in  Parliament  of  Religions,    2.  912, 
sadarah ;  its  Avestan  designation  is  Chicago,    1893 ;    Sheriarji    Bharucha, 
not  known,  but  it  is  presumed  to  cor-  Zoroastrian   Religion    and   Customs, 
respond  to  vastra,  'garment,'  and  it  pp.    35-36,    Bombay,    1893;    Darme- 
is  alluded  to,  together  with  the  kusti,  steter,  Le  ZA.  2.  243,  n.  13  ;  251,  n.  64. 
in  Nir.  85-96 ;  Vd.  18.  54  (anaiwydsta, 


INITIATION  INTO    THE  FAITH  381 

kushtl,  kusti,  or  kosti,1  the  sacred  thread  of  the  religion,  as 
soon  as  he  or  she  can  recite  the  so-called  4Four  Avestas';  that 
is,  the  tfrosh  Bdj,  'prayer  to  the  angel  Sraosha,'  Kushti-bastan, 
Hying  the  thread,'  Pa  Ndm-i  Stdyishn,  lit.  4in  the  name  of 
praise,'  and  Birasdd,  4may  it  come.'2  No  priest  is  invited  to 
the  house  to  conduct  this  rite,  as  in  India,  nor  are  the  Zoroas- 
trian  Scriptures  recited.  Instead  of  that,  the  kusti  is  merely  put 
on  at  home  without  formality,  although  occasionally  the  youth 
goes  with  the  kusti  in  hand  to  the  house  of  the  person  who  has 
taught  him  the  four  Avestan  formulas,  and  there  puts  on  the 
thread  in  his  presence,  making,  at  the  same  time,  a  gift  of  a  sugar 
loaf  to  his  preceptor.  The  wearing  of  the  consecrated  shirt, 
sudrah,  sedrah,  or  sadarah  (as  the  word  is  variously  written), 
and  formal  investiture,  which  is  scrupulously  observed  in  Bom- 
bay, as  prescribed  by  the  religion,  is  not  common  at  Yezd;  but 
some  of  the  Indianized  Zoroastrians  in  Persia  imitate  their 
Parsi  brethren  of  Bombay  in  keeping  up  this  orthodox 
custom. 

After  assuming  religious  responsibility  by  putting  on  the 
kusti,  the  person  is  qualified  for  receiving  the  rites  of  the  faith, 
and  should,  in  theory  at  least,  be  subject  to  its  regulations, 
especially  to  the  rules  of  purification  that  are  inculcated  by  the 
A  vesta.  Throughout  the  religion,  Zoroaster  enjoins  purity  of 
body  as  well  as  of  soul,  and  the  Avesta  prescribes  an  elaborate 
set  of  lustrations  and  ablutions  to  remove  any  defilement  that 
may  have  been  incurred  by  contact  with  unclean  matter.  The 
greatest  pollution  comes  from  touching  anything  that  is  dead, 
since  death  is  Ahriman's  greatest  triumph  over  Ormazd's 
creation.  For  that  reason  the  code  of  the  Vendidad  gives 
elaborate  rules  for  an  *  Ablution  of  Nine  Nights '  (barashnum 
nu-shaba,  no-shva),  to  be  gone  through  with  the  most  scrupu- 

1  In  India  kusti  is  the  current  pro-  Darmesteter,    Le    ZA.     2.    685-688  ; 
nunciation,  and  I  have  adopted  that  Spiegel,  Avesta  Ubersetzt,  3.  4-7,  Leip- 
form.  zig,  1863  =  tr.  Bleeck,  3.  4-5,  London, 

2  For  a  translation  of  the  first  two  1864. 
(Nlrang  Kusti   and  Srosh   Bdj),  see 


382  ZOROASTRIAN  RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS  AT   YEZD 

lous  care  in  order  to  restore  the  ceremonial  purity  that  may 
have  been  lost  by  contact  with  the  dead.  It  consists  in  a 
series  of  sprinklings  with  bull's  urine  (a  supposed  disinfectant)1 
and  consecrated  water,  accompanied  by  an  endless  amount  of 
ritual  that  is  thought  to  aid  in  exorcising  the  spirit  of  con- 
tamination.2 

Originally,  as  in  the  Avesta,  the  rite  appears  to  have  been 
used  only  in  cases  of  great  defilement,  when  a  man  had  actually 
touched  a  corpse,  or  when  a  woman  had  given  birth  to  a 
dead  child,  or  it  was  employed  to  insure  the  absolute  cere- 
monial purity  of  a  priest  who  is  to  perform  a  sacrifice  ;  later 
its  usage  appears  to  have  become  more  extended,  so  that  it  was 
resorted  to  as  a  means  of  securing  purity  in  general,  and  it  is 
so  used  by  the  Indian  Parsis,  both  in  the  abridged  form  of  a 
mere  ablution  and  in  its  full  form  of  a  lustration  covering  nine 
nights.  According  to  the  Persian  treatise  entitled  Sad  Dar,3 
4  it  is  strictly  incumbent  on  mankind,  on  man  and  woman,  to 
perform  the  Barashnum  ceremony '  at  least  once  in  a  lifetime 
in  order  to  purify  the  soul  for  entrance  into  heaven,  for  other- 


1  The  urine  of  beef  was  thought  to  logues,  that  his  hero,  Menippus,  was 
possess  great  purifying  and  medicinal  washed  in  the  Tigris  at  Babylon  for 
qualities    and    is    called    gaomaeza,  twenty-nine  days   '  by  the  Magi,  the 
'beef's  urine,'  in  the  Avesta  (Vd.  9.  disciples  and  successors  of  Zoroaster.' 
14  ;  19.  21,  22)  and  gomez  in  Pahlavi  It  is  probable  that  this  was  the  way  in 
and  Modern   Persian.     When  conse-  which    the     Magian     '  Zabratas,'    or 
crated  by  special  prayers  it  is  called  *  Zaratos,'    according    to    Porphyrius 
riirang  and  is  generally  spoken  of  by  (  Vita  Pythagorae,  12)  cleansed  Pythag- 
that  name.     See  the  treatise   of    Wil-  oras  of  all  the  sins  he  had  committed 
helm,   On  the    Use    of  Beefs    Urine  in  his  life.     For  the  Greek  texts  of 
according  to  the  Precepts  of  the  Avesta,  these  passages,  see  my  Zoroaster,  pp. 
Bombay,  1889.  237,  242  ;  Nauck,  Porphyrn.  Ojwscula 

2  See  .Vd.  9.  1-46  ;  8.  36-72  ;  com-  Tria,  p.    18,    Leipzig,    1860  ;   and   cf. 
pare  also  the  discussion  of  the  Bara-  Kleuker,  Zend-Avesta,  Anhang,  vol.  2, 
shnuin    ceremony    by    West,     SEE.  pt.  3,  pp.  104,  117,  Riga,  1770-1783. 
18.   431-454,  and  the  notes  by  Darme-          8  See  Sad  Dar,  36. 1-8,  tr.  West,  SEE. 
steter,  Le  ZA.  2.  159-172,  and  SEE.  24.  296-298,  and  compare  Darmesteter, 
4.  122-134.     The  Greek  writer  Lucian  SEE.  4.  123.     The  treatise  Sad  Dar, 
alludes  to  this  prescription  when  he  in  its  oldest  form,  dates  back  to  the 
says,   iii  one  of    his    humorous    dia-  time  of  the  Arab  conquest. 


Two  PICTURES  OF  KHODABAKHSH  BAHRAM  RAIS 
(The  Kalantar's  young  son  in  the  background) 


PARSI  WOMEN  AND  GIRLS 
(1  and  2,  English ;  3  and  4,  Armenian) 


THE  BARASHNUM   GAH  AT   YEZD  383 

wise  the  natal  impurity  contracted  by  being  in  the  womb  and 
sucking  at  the  mother's  breast  will  not  be  removed.1 

When  I  visited  the  Barashrmm  Gah  at  Yezd,  which  is  located 
within  easy  walking-distance  of  the  fire-temple  I  found  a  prim- 
itive mud-walled  structure,  circular  in  form  and  differing 
greatly  from  the  somewhat  elaborate  rectangular  enclosure 
I  had  seen  at  Udvada  in  India.  There  were  a  few  heaps  of 
stones  placed  at  certain  intervals  around  the  edge  of  the 
circuit,  intended  to  serve  as  standing-places  for  the  person 
undergoing  this  purification,  since,  according  to  the  Vendidad, 
he  must  move  from  spot  to  spot  within  lines  specially  drawn 
in  the  sand  and  be  sprinkled  by  the  priest  with  the  drops  of 
bull's  urine  and  water.  The  liquid  is  poured  from  a  ladle 
fastened  to  the  end  of  a  stick  '  nine  knots  '  long,  or  long  enough 
to  allow  the  officiating  priest  to  stand  outside  the  circles  that 
have  been  drawn.  I  observed  a  number  of  niches  in  the  wall, 
precisely  like  the  ordinary  tdkchahs,  or  sunken  recesses,  in  the 
walls  of  a  Persian  room  ;  they  were  used,  I  was  told,  as  recep- 
tacles for  food  and  drink  to  be  taken  by  the  person  undergoing 
purification.  The  whole  place  looked  dilapidated  and  neg- 
lected,2 and  from  what  I  observed,  as  well  as  from  conversation 
on  the  subject,  I  infer  that  less  attention  is  given  in  Yezd  to 
keeping  up  this  ceremony  than  I  should  have  expected  in  the 
centre  of  Zoroastrian  orthodoxy  in  Iran.  From  the  remarks 
of  Khodabakhsh  Rai's  I  conclude  that  certain  of  the  more 
advanced  Zoroastrians  are  opposed  to  insisting  upon  the 
importance  of  keeping  up  this  rite,  especially  in  the  case 
of  women,  although  the  Avesta  prescribes  it  under  certain 

1  Sad  Dar,  37.  1-6.     According  to  in  India,  see  the  account  of  the  initia- 

Khodabakhsh  Rai's,  the  cleansing  from  tory  ceremony  called  navar,  by  Modi, 

the     natal     impurity    is     technically  Zoroastrian  Priesthood,  in  Zartoshti, 

called  sustan-i  sar-i  .sir,  lit.  '  washing  1.  94,  Bombay,  1903. 

of  the  head  of  milk,'  milk  being  re-  2  This  was  perhaps  to  be  expected 

garded  as  blood  turned  white  and  there-  from  its  nature  as  a  place  of  isolation, 

fore  impure,  since  blood  defiles.     For  but  I  could  not  help  contrasting  it  with 

the  comparative  frequency  with  which  the  Barashnum  Gah  at  Udvada. 
the  Barashnum  ceremony  is  employed 


384  ZOROASTR1AN  RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS  AT   YEZD 

circumstances  for  women  as  well  as  men.1  I  inquired  further 
about  the  subject  from  Bahram,  the  son  of  Kalantar  Dinyar, 
and  I  found  that  the  youth  himself,  for  example,  had  never 
undergone  the  ceremony,  a  fact  which  shows  that  it  is  not 
regarded  as  obligatory  for  removing  the  original  taint  incurred 
at  birth,  whatever  may  be  the  custom  with  regard  to  priests. 

I  shall  now  turn  to  the  subject  of  marriage  among  the  fol- 
lowers of  Zoroaster.  The  age  at  which  the  Iranian  Zoroastrians 
marry  is  usually  between  twenty-five  and  thirty  in  the  case  of 
men,  and  between  fourteen  and  nineteen  in  the  case  of  women. 
Yet  boys  sometimes  marry  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  girls  are 
given  in  marriage  when  only  twelve.  Instances  have  also  oc- 
curred where  a  widower  of  sixty  has  married  a  girl  of  fifteen  or 
has  taken  a  widow  of  twenty  for  a  wife.  I  was  also  informed 
that  in  the  case  of  families  closely  connected  by  ties  of  friend- 
ship, it  has  happened  that  a  two-year-old  daughter  in  one  family 
has  been  betrothed  by  her  parents  to  a  three-year-old  son  in 
the  other  household;  but  such  contracts  are  looked  upon  by 
the  community  with  disfavor.2 

Parents,  as  a  rule,  arrange  the  marriages  of  their  children, 
since  a  son  cannot  take  a  wife,  nor  a  daughter  be  married,  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  parents  or  guardians,  and  the  mother  has 
as  much  to  say  as  the  father  regarding  the  choice  that  is  to  be 
made.  When  the  consent  of  all  concerned  has  been  obtained, 
a  formal  betrothal  of  the  young  couple  takes  place;  gifts  of  or- 
naments and  money  are  frequently  exchanged;  and  the  marriage 
banns  are  then  publicly  announced  by  the  High  Priest,  without 
whose  consent  a  Parsi  cannot  marry,  unless  he  disregards  the 

1  See  Vd.  9.  21,  and  compare  Sad  but  now  are  forbidden.     See  Karaka, 
Dar,  36.  1  (quoted  above)  and  connect  History    of   the   Parsis,    1.    171-172. 
with  it  the  custom  of  segregation  in  For  valuable    statistics   of    the   mar- 
the  Armesht  Gah,  Vd.  5.  45-62,  or  in  riage  ages  of  the  Parsis  in  India,  by 
the  Dashtdnistdn,  Vd.  16.   1-18  ;   cf.  Bamanji  Behramji  Patel,  see  the  inter- 
Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.  2.  x-xv.  esting  chapter  on  marriage,  in  Mile. 

2  The  same  is  true  in  India,  where  D.   Menant,    Les    Parsis,    pp.    154- 
such  infant  marriages  formerly  took  155,  Paris,  1898. 

place  occasionally  among  the  Parsis, 


MARRIAGE   CEREMONIES  385 

authority  of   the  priest  and  marries  according   to  the  law  of 
Islam. 

The  ceremonies  connected  with  the  marriage  itself  differ  from 
those  in  use  among  the  Parsis  of  India,  especially  in  being 
much  simpler.  In  India  the  bride  sits  by  the  side  of  the  bride- 
groom, and  after  the  marriage  witness  for  each  has  formally 
given  sanction  to  the  union,  the  two  priests  stand  before  the 
young  couple,  recite  an  address  of  prayer,  admonition,  and 
benediction,  a  part  of  which  is  in  Sanskrit  and  accompanied  by 
rites  borrowed  from  the  Hindus.1  In  Persia  the  bride  does  not 
take  part  formally  in  the  ceremony  except  by  renewing  her  con- 
sent to  the  bridegroom's  representative,  who  comes  again  for 
that  purpose  to  her  house  on  the  marriage  day,  before  the  wed- 
ding begins.  In  Yezd  only  men  are  regularly  present  at  the 
matrimonial  service,  but  the  bride  and  her  female  relatives  and 
friends  are  usually  near  enough  to  hear  the  texts  recited,  and 
sometimes  they  stand  on  the  roof  of  the  house  to  watch  the 
proceedings.  When  the  male  relatives  and  friends  of  both  fami- 
lies are  assembled,  the  priest  (not  two,  as  in  India)  takes  a 
seat,  and  the  bridegroom  and  a  representative  of  the  bride,  her 
father,  or  some  one  who  has  helped  to  arrange  the  match,  are 
seated  on  his  right,  the  groom's  party  being  on  the  other  side. 
Sugar  candy  is  placed  in  the  hand  of  the  bridegroom  by  the 
bride's  marriage  witness  and  is  formally  accepted,  and  after  a 
few  minor  ceremonies  the  officiating  priest  recites  the  marriage 
address,  Andarz-i  Gf-avdh,  lit.  'Admonition  of  the  Witness,' 
composed  partly  in  the  Dari  dialect,  the  language  current 
among  the  Iranian  Zoroastrians,  and  partly  in  Pazend  and 
Zend.2  It  contains  wholesome  advice  and  admonitions  and 

1  In  India  this  address  is  called  Pai-  Avesta    (lithographed),  pp.  435-450, 
vand-Ndmah  or  Ashirvdd.     See  Modi,  Bombay,    1900.        Mr.   Khodabakhsh 
Marriage  Customs  of  the  Parsis,  pp.  Rai's   (who  compares  gavdh  with  Skt. 
34-39,  Bombay,  1900  ;  Karaka,  History  mvdha}  has  given  an  interlinear  ver- 
of  the  Parsis,  1.  189-192.  sion  of    the    Dari  words  in  Modern 

2  The  text  of  the  Andarz-i  Gavdh  Persian, 
may  be  found  in  the  Persian  Khordah 

2c 


386  ZOROASTRIAN  RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS  AT  YEZD 

a  benediction  invoking  blessings  upon  the  two  that  are  now 
married  and  upon  all  mankind.  When  the  Andarz  is  finished, 
gifts  of  Kashmir  hats  and  presents  of  sugar  loaves  are  freely 
exchanged  by  both  parties,  good  cheer  is  the  order  of  the 
hour,  and  the  guests  partake  of  the  viands  provided  for  the  oc- 
casion. When  the  supper  is  finished,  they  accompany  the 
bride,  who  is  veiled  from  head  to  foot  in  a  robe  of  green  silk, 
to  the  bridegroom's  house,  where  she  enters  upon  her  new 
life. 

In  the  home  the  wife  occupies  a  freer  position  than  the 
women  in  the  Mohammedan  household,  and  despite  the  Moslem 
influence,  which  would  tend  to  make  the  Zoroastrian  regard  his 
wife  as  his  inferior,  she  enjoys  more  of  the  old  Persian  law  of 
equality  '  and  sometimes  even  gets  the  better  of  her  husband,' 
as  the  statement  was  frankly  made  to  me.1  The  women  whom 
I  saw  appeared  to  be  dignified  without  reserve,  and  modest 
without  diffidence,  although,  of  course,  they  do  not  enjoy  the 
greater  advantages  of  the  Parsi  women  of  Bombay,  whose  op- 
portunities have  been  many. 

In  their  domestic  relations  the  Zoroastrians  of  Yezd  are 
monogamists,  as  a  rule,  but  bigamy  and  even  polygamy, 
which  they  attribute  to  the  influence  of  their  Mohammedan 
surroundings,  were  not  uncommon  in  former  times.  The  sen- 
timent of  the  Zoroastrian  community,  as  was  evident  from 
two  particular  instances  which  they  cited,  is  distinctly  against 
dual  marriages,  even  in  cases  where  the  first  wife  has  borne  no 
child  to  the  husband,  and  for  a  woman  to  commit  bigamy 
would  mean  death.  The  cause  of  the  difficulty  of  enforcing 
the  standards  of  the  Zoroastrian  faith  and  preventing  infringe- 
ments of  the  marriage  law  is  found  in  the  force  of  the  Moslem 
example  that  prevails  around  them.  A  Zoroastrian  who  is 
unwilling  to  abide  by  priestly  regulations  in  such  matters 

1  On  the  law  of  equality  of  the  wife  trian  Women  in  Remote  Antiquity,  as 
in  Ancient  Iran,  see  Darab  Dastur  illustrated  in  the  Avesta,  pp.  35-42, 
Peshotan  Sanjana,  Position  of  Zoroas-  Bombay,  1892. 


If 

Q      «« 


1 

SI 

3    ft 

I  - 

N    .2 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  387 

simply  rejects  them,  or,  if  he  chooses,  goes  over  to  Islam.  For 
that  reason,  as  I  learned,  cases  of  breach  of  promise  and  divorce 
occur  even  in  the  circle  of  the  faithful,  and  certain  other  vices, 
which  I  need  not  mention,  also  exist ;  but  the  main  body  of 
the  Zoroastrian  community  is  making  earnest  efforts  to  eradi- 
cate these  evils  from  their  midst  and  to  uphold  the  high  ideals 
set  by  their  religion. 

The  funeral  rites  of  the  Zoroastrians  in  Yezd  are  practically 
a  continuation  of  the  ancient  customs  of  the  Avesta  and 
substantially  the  same  as  those  of  the  Parsis  in  India,  but  with 
minor  points  of  difference  due  either  to  local  conditions  or 
to  present  circumstances  as  contrasted  with  the  past.  Since 
nothing  in  detail  has  been  written  in  English  regarding  these 
mortuary  ceremonies  of  the  Modern  '  Gabars '  in  Iran,  I  shall 
devote  some  space  to  the  subject,  making  occasional  compari- 
sons with  the  more  familiar  Parsi  customs  in  India  and  the 
ancient  rites  of  the  Avesta.1 

When  a  person  is  at  the  point  of  death,  a  mobed,  or  priest,  is 
usually  summoned  to  administer  the  last  rites.  He  recites  the 
prayer  of  repentance  for  sins  (patit  pashimdnl,  'penitential 
office  ')  and  performs  the  ceremony  of  extreme  unction  by  pour- 
ing on  the  lips  of  the  dying  some  drops  of  consecrated  bull's 
urine  (gomez,  Av.  gaomaeza).  When  the  person  is  dead,  the 
priest  goes  to  the  fire-shrine  or  to  the  temple  and  performs 
the  srosh-drun  ceremony  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  the 
departed.  In  Persian  this  ceremony  is  called  ravdn  barsm. 

1  For  detailed  information   on  the  my  pupil,  Mr.   Maneckji  Nusservanji 

Zoroastrian  funeral  rites  at  Yezd  I  am  Dhalla.     In  comparing  the  rites  of  the 

again  indebted    to    the    kindness    of  Parsis  in  India,  which  I  knew  also  by 

Khodabakhsh  Bahrain  Rai's.      I  have  experience,  I  have  referred  to  Modi, 

supplemented   my  material  by  notes  Funeral   Ceremonies  of  the  Parsees, 

from  an  interesting  article,  written  in  Bombay,  1892  (reprinted  from  Journ. 

Gujarati,   by  Dastur   Khudayar  She-  Anthropolog.  Soc.  of  Bombay,  1891)  ; 

heryar,  A  Zoroastrian  Death  in  Per-  Karaka,  History  of  the  Parsis,  1.  192- 

sia,  in  Zartoshti,  1.  169-181  (Bombay,  213  ;    Mile.   D.    Menant,    Les  Parsis, 

1904).     For  a  translation  of  the  main  pp.  179-235,  Paris,  1898. 
points  of  this  Gujarati  article,  I  thank 


388  ZOROASTRIAN   RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS  AT   YEZD 

Shortly  after  death  has  taken  place  the  corpse,  which 
henceforth  must  not  be  touched,  except  by  those  who  have  to 
do  so,  is  placed  at  one  side  in  the  room  and  washed.  This  task 
is  performed  by  a  murdah-shur,  4  corpse-washer,'  or  pdk-shur, 
*  clean- washer,'  accompanied  by  an  assistant,  since,  according  to 
the  Avesta,1  one  is  never  allowed  to  be  alone  with  a  dead  body. 
The  two  corpse- washers  also  constantly  hold  a  Jcusti- thread 
between  them  to  signify  their  joint  action  (paivand,  lit. 
4  union,  connection ')  in  the  work.  The  person  who  washes 
the  body  wears  on  his  hand  a  fleecy  glove  of  wool  (pashm^), 
over  which,  as  he  rubs  the  body,  his  assistant  pours  beef's 
urine  (  gd-mez)2  from  a  brass  bowl  with  a  long-handled  spoon. 
Water  is  never  used  for  this  purpose.  It  is  a  rule,  moreover,  that 
men  should  wash  the  corpse  of  a  man,  and  women  that  of  a 
woman,  after  which  they  clothe  the  body  in  a  clean,  but  worn- 
out,  white  garment,  including  the  sacred  thread  (k-ustl'),  but 
they  do  not  put  anything  new  on  the  body,  as  the  Avesta  for- 
bids such  an  act.3  When  their  task  is  completed,  they  wash 
themselves  thoroughly  in  order  to  remove  the  defilement  caused 
by  contact  with  the  dead. 

The  ceremony  of  the  sag-did,  '  glance  of  a  dog,'  is  now  per- 
formed for  the  first  time.  This  ancient  rite,  which  dates  back 
to  the  period  of  the  Avesta,  consists  in  making  a  dog  look  at 
the  dead  body,  since  its  gaze  is  believed  to  have  a  peculiar 
efficacy  for  driving  away  the  nasu,  or  spirit  of  defilement. 
Various  explanations  have  been  suggested  to  account  for  the 
origin  of  this  custom,  from  the  mythological  idea  of  the  four- 
eyed  dogs  of  Yama  in  the  Veda,  all  the  way  down  to  the 
rationalistic  theories  that  it  is  due  to  the  instinct  which  the  dog 
has  for  discerning  whether  any  life  remains  in  the  body,  or 
owes  its  origin  to  the  time  when  the  corpse  was  devoured 
by  dogs  as  well  as  birds.4  No  special  dogs  are  employed  in 

1  Vd.  8.  14.  »  Cf.  Vd.  5.  61  ;  8.  23-25  ;  see  also 

2  Av.  gaomaeza,  Vd.  9.  14  ;  19.  21,       Sad  Dar,  12.  1-2,  and  cf.  Vd.  6.  51. 

22.  «  For  the  role  of  the  dog  in  connec- 


FUNERAL   RITES 

Yezd  for  performing  the  sag-did ; l  the  ordinary  street-dog  is 
called  in  for  the  purpose.  Morsels  of  bread  are  strewn  around 
the  corpse,  or,  according  to  the  older  usage,  laid  on  the  bosom 
of  the  dead,  and  the  dog  eats  these.2 

The  corpse-bearers  now  come  to  remove  the  body,  first  to  a 
sort  of  mortuary  chapel  or  charnel-house  (zdd-o-marg,  lit. 
4  birth  and  death '),  as  I  shall  explain,  and  then  to  the  dakhmah. 
These  carriers  (nasu-kashas),  or  pall-bearers  {plsh-gdhdn,  lit. 
4  before  the  bier'),  convey  the  body  on  an  iron  bier  (gdhdri).* 
The  men  who  perform  this  office  do  not  as  a  rule  belong  to  a 
special  class,  but  any  one  who  may  volunteer  or  be  hired  for 
the  purpose  may  do  this  service ;  some  tend,  however,  to  make 
it  a  part  of  their  livelihood.  The  number  of  bearers  varies  from 
twelve,  sixteen,  twenty-four,  to  thirty-two,  according  to  the 
weight  of  the  body  and  the  distance  to  be  traversed,  but  in  no 
case  can  they  be  less  than  two,  since  the  Avesta  forbids  that 
one  man  alone  should  carry  a  corpse.4  They  always  hold  a 
kusti  between  them  to  keep  up  the  mystic  union  in  their  task, 
and  must  be  prepared  afterward  to  wash  their  persons  and 
their  clothes  thoroughly  before  again  associating  with  other 
people. 

A  procession  (pdddsJi)  is  now  formed  to  conduct  the  body 
to  the  temporary  receiving-vault.  A  man  walks  in  front,  hold- 
ing a  fire-vase  in  which  incense  is  burning.  He  is  followed  by 
the  relatives  and  friends;  and  after  them  the  dead  is  carried, 


tion  with  death,   see  Modi,  Funeral  khdndhiahs,  '  shoulder-men,'  and  are 

Ceremonies,  pp.  8-10,  and  Bloomfield,  not  to  be  confused  in  either  case  with 

Cerberus,  the  Dog  of  Hades,  pp.  27-31,  the  bearers  who  carry  the  corpse  in- 

Chicago,  1905.      For  the  dog  in  the  side  the  dakhmah ;  cf.  Modi,  op.  cit. 

Avesta,    see    Hovelacque,    Le   Chien  p.  12. 

dans  V  Avesta,  Paris,  1876,  and  Kuka,  4  Vd.  3.    14-21 ;   8.   10.      For  the 

The  Dog  in  the  Vendidad,   in  Zar-  numbers    twelve    to    thirty-two,    see 

toshti,  1.  271-280.  Dastur  Khudayar  Sheheryar,  op.  cit. 

1  See  p.  78,  above.  p.  172.      Anquetil   Duperron  (Zend- 

2  This  information  I  have  directly  Avesta,  2.  584,  Paris,  1771)  said  that 
from  Khodabakhsh  Rai's.  forty  was  the  number  at  Kerman. 

8  In  India  they  are  generally  called 


390  ZOROASTRIAN  RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS   AT   YEZD 

lying  on  the  iron  bier  and  followed  by  the  mobeds  and  some 
more  members  of  the  family  of  the  deceased.1 

They  all  march  in  solemn  manner  to  the  zdd-o-marg,  OYparsish- 
khdnah  {pursish-khdnafr),  the  charnel-house,  which  serves  as  a 
receiving-vault  before  the  body  .is  finally  carried  to  the  dakh- 
mah.2 

The  use  of  this  mortuary  building  can  be  traced  directly 
back  to  the  kata  of  the  Avesta,  since  the  Vendidad  commands 
that  'in  every  house  and  in  every  village  they  shall  erect 
three  katas  for  the  dead.'3  The  present  charnel-house  is  of 
larger  dimensions  evidently  than  the  small  structures  described 
in  the  Vendidad,  for  there  is  a  separate  room  for  the  women, 
a  compartment  for  the  corpse,  and  one  for  the  bier,  besides  the 
room  where  the  relatives  and  friends  gather.  The  building, 
as  now  constructed,  has  two  doors,  through  one  of  which  the 
corpse  is  brought  in  and  through  the  other  of  which  it  is  carried 
out,  symbolizing  the  idea  of  birth  and  death  (zdd-o^marg)  given 
in  a  Persian  couplet:  — 

'  What  is  the  world  ?    It  is  simply  a  halting-place,  with  two  gates. 
By  the  one  ye  enter;  by  the  other  ye  depart.'4 

But  the  custom  of  carrying  the  corpse  out  by  a  way  different 
from  the  entrance  by  which  it  came  in,  appears  to  be  as  old  as 

1  In  former  times  it  was  customary  8  See  Vd.  5.  10-14.  Anquetil  Duper- 
in  the  villages  and  outlying  districts  to  ron  (op.  cit.  2.  583)  alludes  to  the  'zad 
have  the  procession  led  also  by  some  marg'  in  India,  and  its  use  is  said  still 
one  blowing  a  horn,  beating  a  drum,  or  to  linger  in  the  Gujarat  provinces,  but  in 
making  doleful  music,  but  this  custom  general  the  Parsis  have  abandoned  it 
has  almost  died  out.     For   the   sub-  and  convey  the  body  within  twenty-four 
stance  of  these  two  or  three  particular  hours  directly  to  the  dakhmah,  as  ne- 
paragraphs  I  am  indebted  to   Dastur  cessitated  by  the  hot  climate.    A  par- 
Khudayar  Sheheryar's  article  already  tial  survival  of  the  zad-o-inarg  among 
referred  to.  the  Indian  Parsis  is  the  nasd-khdnah, 

2  The  name  zad-o-marg,  *  birth  and  '  dead   house,'  where    the    bier    and 
death,'   is  explained    directly  below ;  other  funeral  equipments  are  kept  by 
the    designation  pursish-khanah,    lit.  the  nasd-sdldrs.     See  also  Modi,  Fu- 
1  house  of  inquiry,'   is  from  the  cus-  neral  Ceremonies,  p.  7,  n.  9,  and Darme- 
tom    of    coming    to    inquire    (pursi-  steter,  SBE.  4.  53,  n.2  ;  07,  n.  1. 
raftan)  and  condole  with  the  family  4  The  Persian  text  is  given  by  Khu- 
of  the  deceased.  dayar  Sheheryar,  op.  cit.  p.  171. 


A   MORTUARY  CHAPEL  391 

the  Avesta,  since  the  Vendidad  alludes  to  making  a  '  breach ' 
in  the  wall  to  take  out  the  body.1 

When  the  corpse  is  brought  within  the  zad-o-marg,  it  is 
removed  from  the  iron  bier  and  laid  on  a  raised  platform  of 
mud  paved  with  stone,  about  nine  feet  long  and  four  feet  wide, 
and  the  bier  is  carried  into  a  separate  room.2  The  friends 
gather  to  pay  their  last  respects  to  the  dead ;  this  is  called  pursl- 
raftan,  lit.  'coming  to  ask,'  or  sez  (so/).3  The  mobeds  then 
begin  the  G-dhdn  Srdyishn,  or  chanting  of  the  Gatha  Ahunavaiti 
(Ys.  28-34),  which  treats  of  various  subjects  relating  to  piety, 
faith,  and  the  future  life.  When  the  recitation  is  half  over,  the 
priests  cease  chanting,4  the  sag-did  is  performed  once  more, 
and  the  body  brought  from  the  room  where  it  was  laid,  and 
replaced  upon  the  iron  bier,  to  which  it  is  fastened  by  a  thick 
kusti,  and  a  white  sheet  is  thrown  over  the  whole. 

The  procession  is  then  re-formed  and  leaves  the  building, 
reciting  verses  from  the  Avesta  in  memory  of  the  dead  (iris- 
tanftm).5  After  going  a  short  distance  a  halt  is  made,  the 
women  and  those  who  do  not  desire  to  follow  the  body  all  the  way 
to  the  dakhmah,  pay  their  parting  tribute  to  the  dead,  and  then 
the  near  relatives  and  friends  go  on  in  procession.  As  the 
main  dakhmah  at  Yezd  is  about  nine  miles  from  the  city,  many 
in  the  procession  ride  on  horses  or  donkeys,  but  the  priests  go 
the  entire  distance  on  foot.  It  sometimes  happens  also,  espe- 
cially in  the  case  of  hamlets  and  villages  far  remote  from  the 

1  Vd.  8.  10.     Compare  the  Pahlavi  Sheheryar,  op.  cit.  p.  172),  and  the  same 
commentary,  on  this  passage  and  the  is  true  in  India  (cf.  Modi,  op.  cit.  p.  14). 
notes  by  Darmesteter,  Le  ZA.  2.  121,  &See  Sheheryar,  op.  eft.  p.  173.    I  am 
n.  15,  and  SEE.  4.  97,  n.  6.  not  quite  certain  which  particular  verses 

2  For  these  special  details  I  have  are  referred  to,  but  (if  not  Ys.  26.  7)  I 
combined  my  notes  from  Khodabakhsh  presume    that    the    passage    may    be 
Rai's   with   material    from    Khudayar  Ys.    16.    7,  'we    praise  those     bright 
Sheheryar.  abodes     of    Righteousness    in    which 

3  See  note  above  and  compare  the  dwell  in  happiness  the  souls  of  the 
sejdo  of  the  Indian  Parsis ;  cf.  Modi,  dead     (iristonSw),    which     are     the 
op.  cit.  p.  15.  spirits  (fravashayo)  of  the  righteous. 

4  The  pause  is  made  at  the  words  tat_  We  praise  the  best  world  (Paradise), 
moi  m&dyai,  Ys.  31.   5  (so  Khudayar  holy,  brilliant,  and  all-glorious.' 


392  ZOROASTRIAN  RELIGIOUS  CUSTOMS  AT   YEZD 

dakhmah,  that  the  corpse  is  placed  upon  a  cow  or  a  donkey, 
instead  of  being  carried  1 — a  procedure  which  would  be  in  no 
way  striking  in  Persia,  because  there  corpse-caravans  convey 
dead  bodies  for  long  distances  to  Mohammedan  shrines. 

Upon  reaching  the  dakhmah,  the  sag-did  is  repeated  for  the 
third  and  last  time,  the  final  preparations  made,  and  the  corpse 
is  given  over  into  the  charge  of  two  other  men  whose  special 
office  it  is  to  convey  it  within  the  tower.  They  are  called 
nasd-sdldrs,  'chief  of  the  dead,'  a  designation  also  applied  to 
them  in  India.2  They  must  be  men  well  advanced  in  years  and 
of  a  high  moral  character.  Owing  to  the  nature  of  their  occu- 
pation they  are  obliged  to  live  apart  from  men  and  are  not 
allowed  to  mingle  with  other  members  of  the  community  or 
to  enter  a  house  where  religious  rites  are  being  performed  or 
any  special  festival  is  being  celebrated,  and  if  possible  they 
must  also  refrain  from  tilling  the  earth.  They  are  obliged, 
moreover,  to  wash  themselves  thoroughly  after  having  carried 
a  corpse  into  the  tower,  and  if  they  should  ever  wish  to  resign 
from  their  office,  they  must  undergo  the  ceremony  of  the  'Nine 
Nights  Washing'  (barashnum  no-shva,  no-sJiaba),  as  already 
described. 

As  soon  as  they  take  the  corpse  into  their  charge  at  the  door 
of  the  dakhmah  they  make  the  paivand-bond,  by  holding  a 
kusti  between  them,  and  they  recite  the  Srosh  Baj.  One  of 
them  next  takes  a  piece  of  metal  or  an  iron  key  and,  beginning 
near  the  left  ear  of  the  corpse,  draws  three  furrows  (kash) 
around  it,  reciting  the  Ahuna  Vairya  formula,  or  Avestan 
paternoster,  as  he  draws  each  circle.3  The  two  nasa-salars  now 
take  up  the  body  and  carry  it  into  the  dakhmah,  laying  it  down 
with  the  head  toward  the  south,  and  removing  the  clothes,  in 

1 A  reference  to  this  custom  is  even  in  this  respect,  see  Modi,  op.  cit.  pp. 

found  in  the  Pahlavi  commentary  on  12-18. 

the  Vendidad  (Phi.  Vd.  3.  14) .  8  For  the  material  in  this  and  the  next 

2  My  statements  in  this  paragraph  five  paragraphs  I  am  indebted  to  the 

are  based  on  the  authority  of  Khoda-  Gujarati  article  by  Dastur  Khudayar 

bakhsh  Rai's.    For  the  Indian  customs  Sheheryar,  op.  cit.  pp.  169-181. 


AT   THE  DAKHMAH,    OR    TOWER   OF  SILENCE  393 

accordance  with  the  ordinances  of  the  Avesta.1     They  then 
recite  in  Persian  the  following  prayer  to  the  angels  (yazatas) :  — 

'0  victorious  and  holy  Srosh,  we  have  removed  N  or  M2  from 
the  earth,  Spendarmad,  and  have  committed  him  (or  her)  to  the 
stone  Ayokhshust. 3  0  Angel  Srosh,  we  turn  our  backs  upon  him 
(her),  but  do  thou  turn  thy  face  towards  him  (her);  into  thy 
keeping  we  have  given  him  (her);  do  thou  take  his  (her)  hand.' 

[To  the  corpse.]  'Do  not  thou,  N  or  M,  be  afraid,  do  not  tremble, 
because  this  place  is  thousands  of  years  old;  it  is  the  resting-place  of 
our  fathers  and  mothers  and  our  ancestors.' 

[To  the  Angels.]  '0  Srosh,  Mihr,  and  Eashn  the  Just,  we  have 
delivered  him  (her)  into  your  keeping;  take  his  (her)  hand,  and  lead 
him  (her)  to  the  abode  of  our  forefathers  and  the  righteous  and  the 
pure.  So  be  it,  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  Angels  and  Arch- 
angels (izad  u  amshaspandari) ;  so  be  it;  so,  verily,  let  it  be.'4 

The  corpse-carriers  withdraw  from  the  tower  after  this,  and 
the  body  is  left  exposed  for  the  birds  of  prey  to  devour  the 
flesh.  When  the  bones  have  been  denuded  and  become  dry 
they  are  usually  laid  in  a  separate  place  in  the  dakhmah  and 
turn  to  dust.5  In  no  instance  nowadays  is  the  corpse  torn  by 
dogs  or  wild  beasts  as  it  was  in  ancient  days,  nor  in  any  case 
is  burial  in  the  ground  lawful,  since  it  was  prohibited  by 
Zoroaster.  If  a  dakhmah  is  not  accessible,  the  body  may  be 
disposed  of  after  the  manner  known  as  sang-chin,  'heap  of 

1  The  removal  of  the  clothes  is  im-      metal,1  see  my  article  in  JA08.  (Pro- 
plied  in  the  Avestan  phrase  rao6&-aiwi-      ceedings,  p.  Iviii),  1890. 

varena,    '  clothed    with    the    light  of  *  See  Khudayar  Sheheryar,  op.  cit. 

heaven'  (Vd.  6.  51).     In  the  Avesta  p.  174. 

(Vd.  19.  1;  Yt.  22.  7)  and  throughout  6  See  what  I  have  said  below  (p.  439) 

the  Zoroastrian  Scriptures  the  southern  regarding  the  dakhmah  at  Rei  near  Te- 

region  is  auspicious,  the  northern  re-  heran.     Compare  likewise  the  descrip- 

gion  the  abode  of  Ahriman  and  the  tion  of  the  dakhmah  at  the  village  of 

demons.  •  Shah  Ali  near  Yezd,  which  was  exam- 

2  Here  the  name  is  to  be  inserted  and  ined  by  Westergaard  in  1843  (JRAS.  8. 
the  rest  of  the  prayer  made  to  conform  352);  furthermore  the  account  of  the 
to  it.  dakhmah  near  Isfahan,  which  Chardin 

3  This    expression,   *  stone    Ayokh-  in  the  seventeenth  century  described  as 
shust'  (Pers.  sang  Ayokhshasf),  is  not  round  with  a  central  pit  (  Voyages,  3. 
quite  clear;  but  it  appears  to  answer  131).      In  the  Bombay    towers    this 
to    Avestan     ayokhshusta,     '  molten  central  well  is  called  the  bhanddr. 


394  ZOROASTRIAN  RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS  AT   YEZD 

stones.'  Under  these  circumstances  the  corpse  is  carried  to 
some  remote  place  in  the  hills  or  mountains,  is  then  piled 
around  with  stones  and  covered  with  a  slab,  but  not  interred.1 

It  is  customary,  after  the  body  has  been  exposed  upon  the  dakh- 
mah,  for  the  friends  and  relatives  to  partake  of  some  refresh- 
ment after  their  long  march  ;  the  simple  meal  consists  of  bread, 
cheese,  potatoes,  or  eggs,  as  the  case  may  be,  with  some  wine, 
but  no  meat  or  melted  butter  is  eaten.  Prayers  are  again 
offered  for  the  dead  and  sympathy  is  expressed  for  those  in 
affliction,  and  then  all  those  present  perform  the  ^ws^-ceremouy 
and  return  home.2 

According  to  the  ancient  and  present  Zoroastrian  belief,  the 
soul  hovers  near  the  earth  for  three  days  after  death,  before 
departing  to  the  other  world.  During  that  time  the  family 
observe  certain  rules,  pray  for  the  dead,  abstain  from  eating 
meat  and  from  any  act  that  might  cause  distress  to  the  soul  or 
detain  it  longer  on  earth.  On  the  spot  where  the  body  lay 
before  it  was  removed  from  the  house,  it  is  usual  to  place  three 
bricks  in  the  form  of  a  little  arch  and  to  thrust  an  open  pair  of 
scissors  into  the  ground  to  drive  away  any  evil  spirits  that  may 
be  lurking  near.  The  ceremony  of  the  Yasna  is  performed 
each  morning,  between  sunrise  and  noon  (Havani  Grdli),  the 
Srosh  Yasht  is  recited  in  the  evening  after  sunset  (Aiwi- 
sruthrima  Graft),  and  the  Vendidad  ritual  is  celebrated  at  mid- 
night, unless  for  some  reason  the  corpse  must  remain  in  the 
house  over  the  first  night,  in  which  case  the  Vendidad  observ- 
ance is  omitted. 

On  the  afternoon  (Uzayeirintt  Gdh)  of  the  third  day  the 
priest  is  invited  to  recite  some  texts  from  the  Avesta,3  with 
accompanying  ceremonies,  and  some  food  is  prepared  for  the 

1  This  is  practically  the  method  pur-  eral  description  here  given  presents  all 
sued  at  Shiraz  (see  p.  337,  above)  and  the  more  important  details, 
wherever  there  are  not  enough  believ-  8  Selections     from     the     Khordah. 
ers  to  justify  a  dakhmah.  Avesta  (e.g.  Khurshed  Nyaish,  Uzeirin 

2  Minor  variations   in   the  funeral  Gah,  and  Patit  Pashimani)  are  used 
rites  are  found,  of  course,  but  the  gen-  for  this  purpose. 


RITES  AFTER  DEATH  395 

evening.  At  midnight,  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  com- 
pany, religious  rites  in  honor  of  the  deceased  (yasht-i  sedush)  and 
the  dedication  of  a  white  muslin  garment  takes  place  at  this 
vigil  (shab-girih),  so  that  the  soul  may  not  be  naked  in  paradise.1 
At  dawn  ( Ushahin  Grdh),  when  the  soul  is  believed  to  be 
crossing  the  Bridge  of  Judgment  (Av.  Ohinvat  Peretu,  Mod. 
Pers.  Ohinvad  PuT)  the  ceremonies  of  the  cliahdrom,  '  fourth 
day,'  are  carried  on.  These  rites  are  believed  to  be  efficacious 
in  facilitating  the  difficult  passage  of  the  soul  over  the  Bridge. 
Invocations  are  made  to  the  angels  Sraosha,  Rashnu,  Arshtat, 
Rama  Hvastra,  and  to  the  Fravashis,  and  prayers  are  offered  for 
the  dead.  After  the  completion  of  this  requiem  mass  all  those 
who  are  present,  with  the  exception  of  the  priest,  partake  of  a 
slight  repast  of  food  previously  consecrated,  and  the  priest,  with 
a  rosary  of  beads,  asks  each  of  the  mourners  how  many  prayers 
he  will  offer  in  memory  of  the  deceased,  and  after  announcing 
the  number  and  reciting  some  texts  of  absolution  and  benedic- 
tion, dismisses  the  assembly.2 

1  The  designation  shab-girih  appar-  made  only  in  cases  where  the  person 
ently  means  *  night-watch,  vigil  for  the  dies  absolutely  childless  ;  but  in  former 
dead,  wake,' and  is  then  applied  to  the  times  it  was  done  even  if  daughters 
garment  that  is  dedicated  to  the  de-  were  left,  but  no  son.     Formerly  only 
ceased   and   thus    answers  to  shiydv  a  boy  was  eligible,  but  now  even  a  girl 
among  the  Indian  Parsis.      This  cus-  may  be  chosen,  although  such  a  choice 
torn,  with  others  that  are  still  kept  up  is  rare.    The  age  of  the  person  adopted 
by  the  Zoroastrians,  is  alluded  to  in  is  generally  over  fifteen  years,  but  now- 
Sad   Dar,  87.    1-11,  see  West,  SEE.  adays  an  infant  may  be  nominated  to 
24.  350-352.  the  office,  its  father  acting  for  it  dur- 

2  In  performing  the  rites  of  the  third  ing  the   years  of  its  minority.     As  is 
night  and  the  fourth  day  (chaharoni) ,  natural,  the  one  chosen  to  serve  in  the 
when  the  soul  is  crossing  the  Bridge,  office  of  pul-guzar  is  selected  from  the 
the  offices  of  a  son  and  heir  are  particu-  nearest  relatives  and  acts  like  an  ex- 
larly  important.     For  that  reason,  in  ecutor  to  an  estate,  dividing  the  prop- 
the  case  of  an  adult  of  fifteen  years  or  erty  among  those  who  are  of  kin  to  the 
more  who  has  died  without  leaving  a  deceased,  and  distributing  a  large  part 
child,  it  is  appropriate  to  appoint  an  of  it  in  charity,  especially  in  funds  for 
adopted  son  who  assists  in  the  crossing  the  annual  celebration  of  the  Gahanbar 
of  the  Bridge  and  is  therefore  called  pul-  festivals.     (This  note  is  from  memo- 
guzar,    '  bridge-crossing.'      Nowadays  randa  furnished  me  by  Khodabakhsh 
the  appointment  of  an  adopted  heir  is  Ra'is.) 


396  ZOROASTRIAN  RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS  AT   YEZD 

Some  additional  rites  are  observed  on  the  tenth  day  (dahah), 
the  thirtieth  (siruzah  or  slruzhah),  the  return  of  the  day  (ruzah 
or  razhah)  each  month,  and  again  on  the  anniversary  (s«Z  or 
sar-i  sal)  of  the  death,  and  these  observances  are  to  be  kept 
up  as  long  as  possible,  besides  remembering  the  dead  during 
the  Fravardigan  Festival  of  ten  or  eighteen  days  at  the  end  of 
the  Parsi  year.1  There  are  likewise  several  other  observances 
which,  though  not  directly  connected  with  death,  have  neverthe- 
less a  bearing  on  the  subject  of  the  repose  of  the  soul  hereafter. 
They  are  enjoined  by  the  priests  and  performed  by  the  orthodox, 
but  by  no  means  without  exception.  Among  them  are  the  reci- 
tation of  a  thousand  prayers  of  repentance  (hazdrah-i  patit)  to 
gain  absolution  from  sins ;  likewise  a  thousand  prayers  to 
fire  and  water  (Jiazdrah-i  dtash-nydish,  hazdrah-i  db-nydish)  in 
atonement  for  sins  committed  against  those  elements  ;  or  again, 
an  invocation  of  the  earth  (yasht-i  bin-i  Sipanddrmiz  or  Spanddr- 
mad)  to  pardon  any  defilement  of  the  ground,  which  may  have 
been  committed  in  life,  even  by  going  barefoot ;  and  lastly  the 
consecration  of  several  fires  (dtash-i  mas  kartvun  or  dtash  buzurg 
kardan,  lit.  4  aggrandizing  the  fire ')  as  an  act  of  merit  and 
atonement.  Mention  may  also  be  made  of  the  so-called  rite  of 
sahm-astah,  lit.  4  dread  of  bones,'  offered  by  a  widow  who  marries 
a  second  time  and  desires  to  appease  the  soul  of  her  former 
husband  ;  and  finally,  of  prayers  recited  near  the  dakhmah  for 
the  repose  of  the  dead  (yasht-i  daur-i  damah),  together  with 
the  '  Nine  Nights  Ablution '  (barashnum  no-shva,  no-shaba) 
already  described.2 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  according  to  information  I 
received,  a  recent  convert  (Jadld)  from  Zoroastrianism  to  Islam 
sometimes  still  maintains  his  old-time  orthodoxy  sufficiently 

1  The  Fravardigan  Festival  is  a  per-  the  preceding  paragraph  I  am  indebted 
petuation  of  the  Avestan  fravashi-wor-  to  notes  given  me  by  Khodabakhsh 
ship,  or  commemoration  of  the  souls  Ka'is.     I  am  not  certain  as  to  the  pre- 
of   the  departed,  somewhat  like  our  cise    meaning   of    the    words    daur-i 
All  Saints'  Day.  damah,  although  he  explains  damah  as 

2  For  the  subject-matter  of  this  and  dakhmah. 


CEREMONIES   OF  PURIFICATION  397 

to  desire  his  funeral  services  to  be  performed  according  to 
the  Avestan  ritual.  It  has  likewise  happened  that  the  body 
of  such  a  convert  after  being  buried  has  been  stolen  by 
night  from  the  grave  and  carried  under  cover  of  darkness 
to  the  dakhmah.  No  precise  investigation  of  the  matter 
is  afterwards  made.  The  Parsis  give  out  that  angels 
have  come  down  from  heaven  and  borne  the  dead  on  high  to 
the  throne  of  God,  and  the  Moslems  believe  that  the  angels 
have  come  and  taken  the  body  to  Najaf  in  Arabia,  to  lie  by  the 
side  of  the  holy  Ali,  Shdh-i  Najaf,  4  King  of  Najaf.' 

I  shall  conclude  this  sketch  with  some  notes  regarding  the 
the  dakhmahs  in  the  vicinity  of  Yezd.  There  are  two  such 
towers  in  the  hills  west  of  the  city,  and  both  are  in  use.  One 
of  these  is  old  and  is  called  Dakhmah-i  Jamshld^  '  Tower  of 
Jamshid ' ;  the  other,  which  is  round  in  shape  like  the  Indian 
Towers  of  Silence,  is  situated  opposite  to  this  and  is  of  com- 
paratively recent  date.  It  was  erected  by  Manakji  Limji 
Hoshang  Hantaria,  who  came  from  Bombay  to  Persia  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1854  as  representative  of  the  Persian 
Zoroastrian  Amelioration  Fund.1  Still  farther  to  the  west  of 
Yezd,  at  a  distance  of  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  in  the  direction 
of  Taft,  there  are  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  tower,  called 
Dakhmah-i  Kuhnah,  4  Old  Dakhmah,'  which  is  now  used  only 
as  a  place  for  exposing  the  bodies  of  still-born  or  abortive 
children  and  of  persons  who  have  died  by  suicide  or  in  some 
violent  manner. 

There  are  several  other  dakhmahs  located  at  various  points 
north  of  Yezd.  One  of  these  is  situated  on  a  hill  called  Zarch 
Kuh,  near  the  village  of  Ilahabad,  about  ten  miles  from  the 
city ;  it  was  built  in  memory  of  a  rich  childless  merchant, 
Khosru-i  Mihrban-i  Rustam,  by  his  adopted  son,  Ardeshir  Mihr- 
ban  Irani,  a  philanthropic  Zoroastrian  of  Yezd.  Still  farther 

1  An    interesting    account    of   this  aka,  History  of  the  Parsis,  1.72,  where 

agent  of  the  Indian  Parsis  and  of  his  his    name    is    recorded    as    Manakji 

efforts  in  behalf  of  his  oppressed   co-  Limji  Antaria. 
religionists  in  Persia  is  given  by  Kar- 


398  ZOROASTRIAN  RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS  AT   YEZD 

north,  near  the  village  of  Sharafabad,  are  several  other  Towers 
of  Silence,  which  are  referred  to  in  the  next  chapter. l 

Most  of  my  details  regarding  the  dakhmahs  I  received 
directly  from  Khodabakhsh  Rais,  from  whom  I  also  learned 
that  the  Parsis  had  a  tradition,  handed  down  from  antiquity, 
that  when  Persia  was  under  the  rule  of  Zoroastrian  kings 
and  the  country  was  rich  and  prosperous,  each  worshipper 
of  Ormazd  built  for  himself  during  his  lifetime  a  dakhmah  to 
be  used  at  his  death,  and  that  individual  dakhmahs  of  this 
kind  were  called  dakhmah-i  tan  bah  tan,  4  dakhmah  for  a  single 
body.' 

It  is  furthermore  reported  that  the  large  structures,  like 
those  in  use  at  present,  were  originally  called  dakhmah-i 
lashkarl,  '  dakhmah  for  soldiers,'  because  they  were  put  up  for 
the  corpses  of  those  slain  in  battle,  and  their  use  became 
general  after  the  Arab  invasion,  as  the  Zoroastrians  were  no 
longer  able  to  keep  up  their  religious  rites  with  all  the  former 
detail  and  were  obliged  to  resort,  therefore,  to  the  common 
large  towers  and  discontinue  the  practice  of  building  individ- 
ual receptacles  for  the  bodies.  The  tradition  of  individual 
dakhmahs  is  certainly  interesting  because  of  its  bearing  on  the 
Vendidad,  where  dakhmahs  are  alluded  to  as  if  very  numerous. 
It  is  worth  adding  that  Khodabakhsh  is  of  the  opinion  that  the 
original  dakhmahs  were  built  with  mud  walls,  like  those  of  the 
old  one  near  Sharafabad. 

From  all  that  has  preceded,  it  will  be  manifest  how  closely 
the  Zoroastrians  of  Yezd  still  follow  the  injunctions  of  the 
Vendidad.  A  further  illustration  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  amusing  incident  in  daily  life.  The  cook  of  my 
English  hosts  at  Yezd  was  a  Gabar,  and  on  one  occasion,  as 
they  told  me,  he  had  made  some  wine  and  purchased  an  earthen 
jar  in  which  to  store  it,  but  he  first  filled  the  vessel  with  water 
and  let  it  stand  over  night  before  placing  the  wine  in  it. 
A  mouse  accidentally  fell  into  the  jar  and  was  drowned.  The 

1  See  p.  403,  below. 


> 


TOWERS   OF  SILENCE  NEAR    YEZD  399 

receptacle  was  henceforth  unclean  in  the  eyes  of  the  Zoroastrian, 
because  it  had  been  polluted  by  contact  with  dead  matter,  and 
was  therefore  unfit  for  use.1  The  man's  business  sense,  how- 
ever, and  his  regard  for  thrift  —  since  the  Avesta  prohibits 
wasting  anything 2  —  would  not  allow  him  to  throw  the  jar 
away,  so  he  sold  the  vessel  at  a  reduced  price  to  an  Armenian, 
who  had  no  scruples  against  using  it. 

This  combination  of  thrift  and  practical  sense,  united  with  a 
tenacious  adherence  to  the  faith  of  their  forefathers,  is  a  char- 
acteristic of  the  Zoroastrians  of  Yezd.  The  impression  which 
I  gained  of  them  was  very  favorable,  on  the  whole,  considering 
the  conditions  under  which  they  live  in  Persia,  as  contrasted 
with  the  advantageous  environment  of  their  Parsi  brethren  in 
India.  From  the  latter  they  have  much  to  learn  in  the  way  of 
progress,  enterprise,  and  intellectual  activity,  and  they  have 
little  to  offer  in  return,  even  in  the  way  of  religious  customs 
and  observances  or  gifts  of  ancient  manuscripts  relating  to  the 
faith. 

Nevertheless,  so  far  as  my  limited  observations  allowed  me 
to  judge,  there  are  some  of  their  customs  and  certain  of  their 
methods  of  conducting  religious  ceremonies  that  deserve 
further  study  from  the  specialist,  as  such  observances  may 
actually  be  nearer  the  ancient  forms,  and  therefore  historically 
valuable,  even  if  it  be  no  longer  practicable  or  desirable  to 
follow  them.3  In  any  case  the  Parsis  of  India  are  thoroughly 
justified  in  taking  an  active  interest,  as  they  have  done,  in 
their  Zoroastrian  kinsmen  in  Iran,  whose  motto,  wherever 
they  be,  whether  in  Yezd,  Kerman,  Teheran,  or  elsewhere,  is 

1  The  laws  which  underlie  the  Zoro-  the  Zoroastrians  in  Persia,  nor-do  I  on 
astrian  Vendidad  are  largely  sanitary  the  other  hand  forget  the  presence  of 
in  their  origin  and  these  rudimentary  Hindu,  Mohammedan,  and  European 
attempts  at  sanitation  take  on  a  new  influences  on  the  Parsis  in  India  ;  it  is 
complexion  when  viewed  in  the  light  a    task  for  some   thoroughly   versed 
of  modern  hygienic  theories.  scholar  to  estimate  the  relative  extent 

2  Cf.  Vd.  5.  60.  and  proportion  of  these  outside  influ- 

3  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  exist-  ences  in  each  case, 
ence  of  Mohammedan  influence  upon 


400  ZOROASTRIAN    RELIGIOUS    CUSTOMS    AT    YEZD 

*/  the  same  as  their  own  — 4  good  thoughts,  good  words,  good 
deeds ' ;  and  they  will  likewise  do  well  to  promote,  as  hereto- 
fore, all  causes  that  may  tend  to  improve  the  condition  of 
these  Persian  brethren  and  to  enable  them  to  live  up  to 
the  standards  of  the  ancient  creed  which  they  both  possess 
in  common. 


> 


CHAPTER   XXV 
FROM  YEZD  TO   TEHERAN 

*  They  have  ridden  the  low  moon  out  of  the  sky, 
Their  hoofs  drum  up  the  dawn.' 

—  KIPLING,  The  Ballad  of  East  and  West,  39. 

IT  was  the  morning  of  May  13  when  I  bade  adieu  to  Yezd 
and  its  Zoroastrian  community  and  to  my  English  hosts,  and 
started  on  the  journey  northward  to  Teheran.  The  distance 
to  be  covered  was  about  375  miles  over  a  trail  through  plains 
alternating  with  deserts  which  now  and  then  encroach  on  the 
track  if  the  hills  on  either  side  do  not  hold  them  back.  Some 
day  the  journey  will  be  made  in  seven  hours  by  an  Occidental 
express-train,  but  it  took  me  seven  days  to  accomplish  the 
weary  march,  most  of  it  on  the  back  of  animals  only  less  tired 
than  myself. 

As  I  mounted  my  horse  at  the  door  of  the  Mission  and  rode 
out  through  the  gates  of  Yezd  into  the  desert,  I  was  warned 
that,  if  a  heavy  sand-storm  should  break,  I  was  to  take  my 
bearings  by  means  of  the  compass  and  head  toward  the  nearest 
haven  of  refuge,  as  the  path  might  be  wholly  obliterated  by 
the  sand.  There  was  happily  no  occasion  to  necessitate  this 
measure,  and  as  the  horses  were  good^  I  enjoyed  4  chaparing '  at 
a  brisk  gallop  for  a  number  of  miles. 

Safar,  all  this  while,  kept  up  a  spirited  conversation  with 
the  little  postilion  (j»hdgird-cKdp&r),  a  bright  lad  who  did 
not  allow  the  horses  to  lag,  but  kept  whipping  them  up  from 
time  to  time  with  a  thin  metal  chain  that  served  as  a  whip, 
so  that  we  reached  before  long  the  vicinity  of  the  Gabar  dakh- 
mah,  which  crowned  a  high  sand-dune  in  the  distance.  Here 
2o  401 


402  FROM   YEZD    TO    TEHERAN 

I  halted  for  an  instant  to  take  a  photograph  of  our  youthful 
postilion  holding  in  his  hand  the  chain,  which  he  sold  me  as 
a  memento  at  a  price  (thanks  to  Safar's  dealings)  far  below 
the  figure  which  my  farangl  extravagance  might  have  offered 
him.1 

The  hamlet  of  Hojatabad,  about  twelve  miles  from  Yezd, 
was  the  first  station  for  changing  horses,  and  I  rested  in  its  spa- 
cious caravansarai  for  about  an  hour,  from  one  to  two  in  the 
afternoon.  My  luncheon  consisted  of  raw  eggs  (tukhmahd 
na  pukhtaJi)  ;  these  formed  my  staple  food  when  4  on  the  road ' 
in  Persia,  because  I  always  found  them  good  and  nutritious,  and 
I  could  save  time,  when  hastening  to  make  long  stages  of 
twelve  or  thirteen  hours  in  the  saddle,  by  not  even  waiting  to 
have  them  boiled.  For  dessert  on  this  occasion  I  had  some 
sharbat,  which  was  sickishly  sweet  in  taste,  but  was  served  in 
an  antique  brass  saucer  engraved  with  a  tracery  so  artistic  in 
design  that  I  bought  the  dish  as  a  curio  and  had  Safar  wrap  up 
the  sticky  receptacle  and  place  it  in  his  capacious  saddle-bags. 
Sundown  found  us  in  Maibud,  which  Yakut  and  other  early 
Oriental  geographers,  who  wrote  before  the  thirteenth  century, 
locate  at  a  distance  of  '  ten  f arsakhs  from  the  borders  of  Yezd 
and  the  same  distance  from  Akdah.'2  Like  most  of  the  an- 
cient farsakh  measurements,  these  numbers  have  remained  un- 
changed and  are  still  given  as  the  respective  distances  to  these 
places  when  reckoning  the  pay  by  farsakhs  for  post-horses. 
Even  if  we  do  not  go  back  to  the  Persian  and  Arabic  geog- 
raphers, we  have  more  or  less  precise  records  of  the  route 
dating  from  the  time  when  Marco  Polo  traversed  a  part  of  it 

1  At  the  time  of   the  purchase   I  whip  with  leather  thong  and  wooden 

thought  that   this   thin  metal    chain  handle,  one  of  which  I  had  purchased 

might  be  tfce  modern   representative  near  the  Tomb  of    Cyrus,   and  that 

of  the  ancient  aspahe  aStra,  *  horse-  the  chain  represents  rather  the  sraoSo- 

goad,'  of   the  Avesta  (Vd.  4.  19;   6.  Carana,   as  seen    also    in    the    chain 

6  ;  14. 2,  etc.),  but  I  have  since  become  whips   at   Modern    Merv   in    Turkis- 

convinced    that  the    aspahe   aStrd   is  tan. 

represented   rather  by   the   ordinary  2  Yakut,  p.  655  ;  cf .  also  p.  404. 


SHOEING  A  DONKEY 


THE  ZOROASTRIAN  DAKHMAH  AT  RBI  NEAR  TEHKRAN 


LONG   MARCHES  403 

in  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century.1  The  Italian  friar 
Odoric  of  Pordenone  rode  over  it  from  Kashan  to  Yezd  early 
in  the  fourteenth  century  (about  1325),2  and  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  fifteenth  century  (1474)  Josafa  Barbaro,  the  Venetian 
envoy  to  the  court  of  Usun  Cassan,  describes  Kashan  and 
Kum,  two  of  the  most  important  towns  on  the  line.3 

The  second  day's  march,  as  my  diary  shows,  was  a  plodding 
ride  of  fourteen  hours,  with  two  brief  breaks  before  the  goal, 
fifty-six  miles  distant,  was  reached.  A  mid-day  halt  on  this 
journey  was  made  for  an  hour  at  Akdah,  or  Agdah,  which  is 
described  by  Yakut  as  4  a  town  on  the  borders  of  the  desert  of 
Yezd.'4  Somewhere  in  the  hills  in  this  vicinity  there  is  said  to 
be  a  shrine  sacred  to  the  memory  of  Banu-i  Fars,  or  Khatun 
Banu,  the  mother,  or  more  probably  the  daughter,  of  the  last 
Sasanian  monarch  Yazdagard,  with  whose  death  the  line  of 
Zoroastrian  rulers  in  Persia  came  to  an  end.5 

In  this  same  region,  in  the  Zoroastrian  village  of  Sharafabad, 
in  the  district  of  Ardakan,  there  is  an  old  mud-walled  Tower 
of  Silence  (dakhmah),  and  the  story  goes  that  seven  charitable 
sisters  built  seven  different  dakhmahs  at  various  points  on  the 
plain  of  Ardakan,  and  the  sites  of  these  structures  are  indi- 
cated by  mounds  of  earth  which  are  still  pointed  out  by  the 
aged  Parsis  of  Sharafabad.6  There  is  also  a  modern  Zoroastrian 
dakhmah  between  Sharafabad  and  Mazra-i  Kalantari,  in  Arda- 
kan; it  was  erected  by  Manakji  Limji  Hoshang  Hantaria,  the 


1  See  Marco  Polo,  ed.  Yule,  1.  88  ;  that  was  to  quench  her  thirst,  and  the 
cf .  also  Sykes,  Ten  Thousand  Miles  in  consequent    traditional     sacrifice    of 
Persia,  p.  155.  cows  on  the  spot  by  Zoroastrians  (now 

2  See  Odoric  de  Pordenone,  ed.  Cor-  discontinued),  is  recorded  by  Karaka, 
dier,  p.  41,  Paris,  1891.  History  of  the  Parsis,  1.  85-87  ;  Sykes, 

3  See  Josafa  Barbaro,    Travels  in  Ten  Thousand  Miles  in  Persia,  p.  156. 
Persia,  49.  73.  6  For  this    information    regarding 

4  Yakut,  pp.  404,  555.      The  older  the  dakhmahs  I  wish  again  to  thank 
form  of  the  name  is  generally  given  as  Khodabakhsh  Bahrain  Rai's  of  Yezd. 
'  Ukdah  in  the  Arab  geographies.  On  the  Zoroastrian  village  of   Shara- 

6  The  legend  of  her  flight  and  the  fabad,  see  Sykes,  Ten  Thousand  Miles 

cow  which  kicked  over  the  pail  of  milk  in  Persia,  p.  156,  n.  1. 


404  FROM   YEZD    TO    TEHERAN 

same  person  that  built  the  new  tower  near  the  dakhmah  of 
Jamshid  at  Yezd.1 

The  survivals  of  Zoroastrianism  noticeable  throughout  this 
entire  district  were  evidently  observed  centuries  ago  by  Josafa 
Barbaro  when  he  halted  at  a  town  called  '  Guerde,'  the  identity 
of  which  is  not  clear,  although  its  general  location  is  undisputed. 
He  says  :  — 

'Thense  [from  Yezd]  ye  go  to  Meruth,  a  little  towne,  and  twoo 
daies  iorney  further  is  a  towne  called  Guerde,  in  the  which  there 
dwell  certein  men  called  ABRAINI,  which  in  myne  opinion  either 
be  descended  of  Abraham  orells  haue  Abrahams  faith,  and  they  weare 
longe  heare.' 

The  association  of  Abraham  with  Zoroaster  by  the  Mohamme- 
dans is  a  familiar  fact,2  and  the  identity  of  the  two  religious 
leaders  is  assumed  by  many  of  the  Mohammedan  Se'ids  in  this 
district,  who  are  really  converts  from  Zoroastrianism  to  Islam 
and  regard  the  Parsis  as  their  kinsmen.3 

My  journey  continued  for  some  distance  along  the  line  of 
the  Persian  telegraph,  whose  posts  and  wire  became  welcome 
company  as  a  reminder  of  civilization  and  an  assurance  of 
safety  in  case  of  accident.  The  feeling  of  security  is  marked 
when  one  is  within  reach  of  the  wire,  not  because  a  station  is 
near,  for  they  are  miles  apart,  but  because,  if  anything  hap- 
pens, the  traveller  can  get  assistance  by  simply  cutting  the 
wire,  as  some  one  will  be  sent  from  the  nearest  station  to  dis- 
cover the  cause  of  the  broken  current.  The  element  of  civili- 
zation also  comes  in  strongly,  because  one  meets  with  hospitality 
from  the  few  European  telegraph-employees  along  this  benighted 
route,  and  I  felt  grateful  that  afternoon  for  an  hour's  rest  and 
a  cup  of  tea  at  the  temporary  camp  they  had  set  up,  some  miles 
south  of  Nu-Gumbaz.  Darkness  was  falling  and  a  storm  ap- 
proaching when  I  reached  the  chdpdr-khdnah  at  Nu-Gumbaz  — 
a  dreary  and  desolate  place.  I  felt  too  tired  to  wait  for  any- 

1  See  p.  397,  above.  8  For  this  latter  point,  see  Sykes, 

2  See  p.  343,  above  ;  p.  438,  below.        Ten  Thousand  Miles,  p.  156. 


ZOROASTRIAN  SURVIVALS  AT  NAIN  405 

thing  to  be  cooked  for  supper,  but  I  enjoyed  a  hearty  meal  of 
thirteen  raw  eggs  (adding  the  extra  one  to  the  dozen  for  good 
measure)  and  then  threw  myself  on  my  camp-cot  for  a  short 
night's  rest. 

My  foot  was  in  the  stirrup  again  at  3.45  A.M.,  and  after  a 
stretch  of  six  short  farsakhs,  or  eighteen  miles,1  part  of  them 
over  plain  and  desert,  we  filed  slowly  into  the  town  of  Nam, 
called  '  Nairn '  by  Josafa  Barbaro,  who  found  it  ;  evill  enhabited, 
not  exceading  Vc  houses.'2  A  century  earlier  (1340)  the  Per- 
sian geographer  Mustaufi  described  it  as  surrounded  by  'a 
rampart  4000  paces  in  circumference,' 3  and  Yakut,  a  hundred 
years  before  him,  spoke  of  the  theological  reputation  of  Na'in, 
as  having  produced  a  number  of  eminent  students  of  the  Koran 
and  scholars  versed  in  Mohammedan  lore.4  I  was  struck  by  the 
evident  antiquity  of  the  place,  and  I  find  Nam  mentioned  by  the 
Arab  geographers  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,6  but  I  have 
not  yet  been  able  to  trace  its  history  back  to  the  Sasanian  pe- 
riod, although  the  designation  of  the  ancient  citadel  as  Kal'-ah-i 
G-abar, 4  Gabar  Castle,'  and  the  retention  of  Zoroastrian  names 
in  some  of  the  local  designations  point  to  a  very  early  age.6 S 

All  went  well  on  the  journey  until  Neistanak  (Barbaro's 
4  Naistan  ')  was  reached  on  the  same  day,  two  hours  after  noon. 
There  I  found  that  the  outgoing  post,  north  and  south,  had 
taken  all  the  horses  of  the  chapar-khdnah,  and  that  not  even  a 

1  The  farsakh,  or  ancient  parasang,  De  Goeje,  3.  51  (mere  mention)  ;  Ista- 
a  variable  measure  derived  from  con-  khri,  1.  100,  135,  136,  155,  202,  229, 
venient  stages  in  the  day's  march  of  a  231,  232  ;    Ibn   Haukal,  2.   182,  203, 
caravan,  differs  considerably  in  differ-  204,  289,  291,  296. 

ent  parts  of  Persia,  especially  accord-  6  On  this  latter  point  see  Sykeg,  op. 

ing  to  the  nature  of  the  country  to  be  cit.  p.  157.    It  is  even  possible  that  the 

traversed.     In  the  region  of  Yezd  the  Kal'ah-i  Gabar, '  Castle  of  the  Gabars,* 

farsakhs  are  short.  may    represent    Marco    Polo's    Cola 

2  Josafa  Barbaro,  Travels,  ed.  Hak-  Ataperistan,  '  Castle  of  the  Fire-Wor- 
luyt,  49.  82.  shippers,'  whence  one  of  the  three  Magi 

8  See    Barbier  de  Meynard,   Diet.  is  said  to  have  come  to  worship  the 

geog.  de  la  Perse,  p.  561.  infant  Christ,  as  I  have  pointed  out  in 

*  See  Yakut,  p.  561.  JAOS.  26.  79-81,  but  Kashan  has  a 

6  See,  for  example,  Mokaddasi,  ed.  stronger  claim,  as  I  shall  state  below. 


406  FROM   YEZD    TO    TEHERAN 

mule  could  be  hired  in  the  neighborhood.  There  was  conse- 
quently nothing  to  do  but  wait  until  one  of  the  post-relays 
returned,  and  we  were  thus  delayed  until  midnight.  We 
started  at  1.00  A.M.,  but  the  horses  were  so  tired  that  we  could 
not  urge  them  off  a  walk,  and  since  no  fresh  relay  was  found 
at  the  next  station,  we  were  obliged  to  use  the  same  jaded 
animals  all  the  way  to  Ardistan.  This  single  day's  journey  of 
forty  miles  occupied  sixteen  hours ! l 

Ardistan  is  a  flourishing  town,  abounding  in  streams  and 
orchards,  and  counting  some  twelve  thousand  inhabitants,  a 
number  notably  larger  than  the  estimate  given  in  the  fifteenth 
century  by  Josafa  Barbaro,  who  calls  4  Hardistan  a  little  towne 
that  maketh  a  Vc  howses,' 2  but  more  in  accordance  with  the 
statement  made  in  the  tenth  century  by  Mokaddasi  (Makdasi). 
The  latter  says  :  '  Ardistan  is  larger  than  the  other  cities  in  the 
region  of  the  desert.  It  is  well  populated,  and  has  fine  bazaars 
and  numerous  mosques.  There  are  many  sages  and  learned 
men  residing  there.  The  region  of  Ardistan  abounds  in 
white  flour,  whence  it  derives  its  name  (arc?,  'white  flour,' 
and  stdn,  'place').'3 

Historically  the  place  is  of  considerable  interest  to  the  student 
of  Zoroastrianism,  as  may  be  gathered  from  information  in  the 
older  Mohammedan  writers.  Ibn  Rostah  (c.  900)  speaks  of  Ar- 
distan as  a  fine  city,  and  says  that  Anushirvan  (i.  e.  the  Sasanian 
king  Chosroes  I,  A.D.  531-579)  was  born  there.4  Istakhri  (951) 
states,  '  Ardistan  is  a  walled  city,  every  quarter  of  which  is 

1  Two  days  was  the  time  occupied  ed.  De  Goeje,  Bibl.  Geog.  Arab.  3.  390. 
"by  Josafa  Barbaro  in  the  fifteenth  cen-  The  etymology  is  not  correct;  see  be- 
tury,  for  he  says  :  'From  thense  [i.e.  low,  p.   407.     In  contradistinction  to 
from  Ne'istanak]  two  other  daies  ior-  Mokaddasi's  praise  of  the  people  of 
ney  is  Hardistan,  a  little  towne  that  Ardistan  I  may  cite  a  Persian  writer  of 
maketh  a  Vc  howses '  (ed.  Hakluyt,  49.  the  seventeenth  century,  Sadik  Isfahan! 
83).  (p.  62),  who  reports  that  *  the  people  of 

2  See  preceding  note,  and  for  the  this  place  are,  it  is  said,  prone  to  exces- 
present  estimate  of  12,000,  cf.  Sykes,  sive  anger  and  violence.' 

op.  cit.  p.  167.  4  Ibn  Rostah,  ed.  De  Goeje,  7.  153, 

8  Freely  rendered  from  Mokaddasi,      275. 


ARDISTAN  AND   ITS  ANCIENT  REMAINS  407 

fortified,  and  there  are  in  it  some  ancient  traces  of  such  Magi- 
ans  as  Anushirvan  and  Khosru,  and  it  has  a  large  and  wonder- 
ful underground  aqueduct  (kandt) ;  its  people  are  men  of  culture 
and  letters,  and  they  have  a  knowledge  of  the  traditions  of 
Islam.'1  Mustaufi  (1340)  says  that  '  Isfendiar  (the  son  of 
Zoroaster's  patron,  King  Vishtasp)  built  at  Ardistan  a  fire- 
temple  which  enjoyed  great  fame  during  the  ages  of  idolatry 
and  attracted  many  pilgrims.' 2  Yakut  expands  Istakhri's 
account  by  speaking  of  the  vaulted  roofs  of  Ardistan  and  its 
beautiful  gardens,  and  naming  the  distinguished  men  that 
the  city  had  produced.3  The  name  Ardistan  argues  for  the  an- 
tiquity of  the  place,  because  ardastdna,  or  more  precisely  arda- 
stdna  dthangaina,  was  a  designation  for  a  stone  construction  in 
Achyemenian  times  and  was  applied,  for  example,  to  the  win- 
dows in  the  Palace  of  Darius  at  Persepolis.4  Traces  of  the 
wonderful  water-courses,  referred  to  by  Istakhri,  were  still 
plainly  to  be  seen,  as  I  remember,  when  I  walked  through  the 
town  between  rows  of  gardens  in  full  bloom,  to  which  Yakut 
alludes.  Careful  investigation  would  probably  give  more  infor- 
mation also  regarding  the  fire-temple  which  Isfendiar  is  said 
to  have  founded  here,  and  Ardistan  should  be  added  to  the  list 
of  places  already  recommended  as  inviting  sites  at  which  to 
pursue  archaeological  investigations. 

My  attention  at  the  moment  had  unfortunately  to  be  de- 
voted more  to  the  question  of  transportation  than  to  archaeology, 
so  I  was  obliged  to  direct  my  steps  to  the  telegraph  station, 
which  was  situated  in  an  attractive  garden,  filled  with  blossom- 
ing fruit  trees,  and  was  in  charge  of  a  Persian  telegraph  opera- 
tor. Although  he  was  not  able  to  procure  a  post-relay  for  me, 
he  kindly  placed  his  own  horse  at  my  disposal  and  provided 
donkeys  to  make  up  my  caravan  so  that  I  might  start  at  niid- 

1  Istakhri,  ed.  De  Goeje,  Bibl.  Geog.  p.  22,  n.  1 ;  cf.  also  Le  Strange,  JRAS. 
Arab.  1.  202,  n.  1.  1902,  p.  243. 

2  Mustaufi,  Nuzhat  al-Kulub,  cited  3  Yakut,  pp.  22-23. 
by  Barbier  de  Meynard,  Diet.  geog.           4  See  p.  315,  above. 


408  FROM   YEZD    TO    TEHERAN 

night,  besides  wiring  a  message  in  advance  to  have  horses  meet 
me  at  Khalatabad  on  the  morrow.  As  I  returned  to  the  post- 
quarters,  a  messenger,  looking  like  a  mounted  arsenal,  galloped 
in  on  a  fine  horse,  with  a  rifle  across  his  shoulder  and  two 
enormous  holster-pistols  on  either  side  of  his  saddle.  I  thought 
that  he  might  possibly  allow  me  to  hire  his  horse  to  add  to  my 
limited  cavalcade  for  the  next  stage  of  the  journey,  but  his 
errand  was  urgent,  and  he  dashed  onward  over  the  plain,  leaving 
us  to  watch  the  sunset  and  retire. 

After  four  hours'  sleep  I  gave  the  signal  at  1.15  A.M.  for  my 
caravan  of  donkeys  and  the  horse  to  start,  and  the  company  of 
half  a  dozen  beasts  of  transport  moved  slowly  out  on  the  plain 
and  gradually  into  the  desert.  The  gait  was  a  snail's  pace,  but 
I  had  long  before  become  accustomed  to  taking  naps  in  the  sad- 
dle, waking  from  time  to  time  to  watch  the  progress  of  the 
stars,  particularly  glorious  in  Persia,  and  to  count  the  long  hours, 
till  the  brightening  hues  of  dawn  ushered  in  the  day  with  a 
burst  of  sunlight.  Forward  through  the  sand  trudged  our 
little  cavalcade  until,  about  the  time  when  one  would  ordinarily 
be  breakfasting  in  America,  we  were  approaching  the  small 
ttown  of  Moghar,  on  the  edge  of  the  desert,  having  been  six 
hours  already  in  the  saddle.  The  outskirts  of  the  settlement 
were  rich  in  grain-fields,  and  the  gleaners  were  already  at  work 
with  the  sickle.  The  Persian  sickle  curves  far  more  beyond  the 
semicircle  than  does  our  own,  so  that  the  blade  resembles  an 
immense  steel  hook.  In  using  it,  the  gleaner  squats  on  the 
ground  in  Oriental  fashion,  gathers  an  armful  of  the  tall  barley, 
deftly  cuts  it,  and  lays  it  down  to  be  bound  afterwards  into  a 
sheaf. 

The  stretch  of  desert  from  Moghar  to  Khalatabad  seemed 
interminable  at  our  slow  pace.  The  sun  beat  down  pitilessly, 
and  I  could  feel  its  scorching  rays  penetrating  through  the 
white  cotton  covering  that  I  wore  over  iny  hat.  The  sand  was 
dazzling  and  in  many  places  was  encrusted  with  a  coating  of 
salt  that  looked  like  ice  or  snow.  From  time  to  time  we 


THROUGH   THE  DESERT  TO  KHALATABAD  409 

encountered  a  row  of  sand  hillocks  that  looked  as  if  some  gigan- 
tic mole  had  been  burrowing  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
These  high-heaped  mounds,  which  are  a  familiar  sight  in  the 
arid  districts  of  Persia,  are  made  from  the  sand  thrown  up 
around  the  mouth  of  the  kandts,  or  deep  wells,  dug  at  intervals 
and  joined  by  a  succession  of  underground  tunnels  which  carry 
the  water  sometimes  several  miles.  Wherever  moisture  had 
gathered  and  had  been  evaporated  by  the  sun,  the  sand  was 
baked  into  huge  cakes  like  clay,  across  the  cracks  of  which 
myriads  of  lizards  darted,  while  every  suggestion  of  humidity 
on  the  desert  gave  rise  to  mirages  so  deceptive  that  it  was  often 
impossible,  a  few  feet  away,  to  tell  whether  we  were  looking 
upon  a  pool  or  not.  The  unceasing  stretch  of  sand  made  the 
stage  seem  endlessly  long.  Now  and  then  I  varied  the  monot- 
ony by  giving  the  horse  to  Safar  to  ride  and  taking  one  of  the 
donkeys  ;  my  particular  choice  was  a  beast  that  was  easy  to 
ride,  but  had  a  provoking  habit  of  lying  down  in  the  sand  at 
the  most  unexpected  moments. 

Khalatabad  was  reached  at  last  after  a  ride  of  fourteen  hours, 
and  we  found  to  our  joy  that  the  chdpdr  horses  had  arrived. 
After  an  hour's  rest  I  vaulted  again  into  the  saddle  for  a  ride 
which  proved  to  be  one  of  the  keenest  pleasures  I  experienced 
in  Persia.  The  horse  assigned  me  was  a  splendid  animal,  one 
of  the  three  truly  fine  mounts  I  had  ridden  since  leaving  Uru- 
miah  (and  I  had  ridden  more  than  fifty),  but  it  was  evident 
that  he  was  not  used  to  a  Western  bit,  for  he  took  the  iron  at 
once  between  his  teeth  and  ran  away  with  me,  galloping  for 
nearly  three  miles  before  I  could  bring  him  down.  The  plain 
was  as  smooth  as  a  cinder  path,  his  mettle  was  superb,  and  the 
speed  delightful  after  the  crawling  pace  at  which  we  had  pro- 
ceeded all  day.  Again  and  again  he  became  unmanageable  and 
ran,  leaving  the  rest  so  far  behind  that  I  had  to  gallop  back 
again  for  fear  of  losing  the  servants  and  my  baggage.  After 
three  hours  of  this  exhilarating  sport,  which  the  horse  enjoyed 
as  much  as  I,  he  suddenly  bolted,  being  frightened  by  a  flock 


410  FROM    YEZD    TO    TEHERAN 

of  sheep  running  in  confusion  before  an  approaching  thunder- 
storm ;  but  I  was  in  too  .good  training  to  be  unseated,  and  we 
galloped  at  full  speed  beneath  the  bald  khdnah  of  the  post-house 
at  Abuza'idabad  at  7.30  P.M.,  just  as  the  rain  began  to  pour 
down.  The  day  had  been  one  of  almost  incessant  riding  for 
seventeen  hours,  and  the  journey,  which  ordinarily  takes  four 
days,  had  been  made  in  one.  My  mettlesome  steed,  however, 
paid  for  his  speedy  gait,  for  I  found  his  high  spirits  gone  the 
next  morning,  and  sheer  fatigue  made  him  quite  docile  by  the 
time  we  caught  sight  of  the  blue  domes  of  the  mosques  at 
Kashan  that  rose  with  a  glimpse  of  color  over  the  brown  plain. 

Kashan,  pronounced  in  Persian  as  Kdslidn,  is  flanked  by 
mountains  and  hills  on  the  south,  west,  and  northwest,  but  on 
the  other  sides  it  lies  open  to  the  plain.  The  city  looks  low 
and  level  as  one  approaches  it,  but  the  outline  is  broken  by  the 
characteristic  vaulted  mud  roofs  of  the  houses,  the  domes  of 
the  mosques  and  madrasahs,  and  by  a  lofty  minaret,  over  one 
hundred  feet  high  (seen  in  the  left  of  the  picture)  ,*  which  looks 
in  the  distance  as  if  a  modern  factory  with  a  high  chimney  had 
been  set  up  to  give  occupation  to  the  inhabitants,  who  number 
over  seventy  thousand. 

The  history  of  Kashan,  like  that  of  its  rival  city  Kuin,  is 
wrapped  in  obscurity,  but  Firdausi  assumes  that  it  was  in 
existence  in  the  time  of  Kei  Khosru,  the  legendary  king  who 
is  supposed  to  have  reigned  about  eight  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era,  for  the  great  warrior  Kamus  is  frequently  alluded 
to  as  the  hero  '  of  Kashan.'2  Persian  history  also  records  that 
Kashan  and  Kum  furnished  about  twenty  thousand  men  to  the 
army  that  fought  in  vain  against  the  Caliph  Omar,  at  the  time 

1  This  is  the  leaning  tower  of  Zein  from  Mme.  Dieulafoy's  work),  and  the 

ad-Din,  a  picture  of  which   is  given  valuable  account  of  the  province  of 

by  Mme.    J.    Dieulafoy,    La    Perse,  Kashan  by  Houtum-Schindler,  East- 

p.  198,  Paris,  1887;  see  also  Landor,  ern  Persian  Irak,  pp.   109-118,   Lon- 

Across  Coveted  Lands,  1. 263,  and  com-  don,  1897. 

pare  the  description   of    Kashan    by  2  Firdausi,  Shah  Ndmah,  ed.  Vul- 

Curzon,  Persia,  2.  12-16    (who  repro-  lers-Landauer,  2.   870,  918,  etc.,  and 

duces  the  picture  of  the  leaning  tower  transl.  Mohl,  3.  1,  58,  97,  etc. 


DOMED  ROOFS  OF  KASHAN 


KASHAN 


KASHAN  411 

of  the  Arab  conquest.1  A  common  report  assigns  the  building 
of  the  city  to  Zobeidah,  the  wife  of  Harun  al-Rashid  (A.D.  800), 
but  this  is  incorrect,  as  it  was  in  the  case  of  Tabriz,  already 
cited,2  although  Zobeidah  may  have  rebuilt  the  city. 

Mustaufi's  brief  but  interesting  account  of  the  city  of  Kashan, 
which  was  written  about  the  year  A.D.  1340  and  based  on  older 
sources,  is  in  substance  as  follows  :  '  This  city  was  built  by 
Zobeidah,  the  wife  of  Harun  al-Rashid.  The  heat  is  intense 
here  in  summer,  but  the  winters  are  very  pleasant.  The  water, 
which  is  not  very  abundant,  is  brought  from  a  reservoir  at  Fin, 
which  is  fed  by  the  Kuh  Rud.3  Rain  water  is  also  collected  in 
cisterns  by  the  inhabitants.  The  people  of  Kashan  are  intelligent 
and  well  informed,  and  belong  to  the  Shiite  sect  of  the  Moham- 
medan faith  ;  but  the  inhabitants  of  the  eighteen  villages  in  the 
vicinity,  on  the  contrary,  are  Sunnites.  The  melons  and  figs  of 
Kashan  are  held  in  esteem.'4  The  European  traveller  Josafa 
Barbaro,  a  century  later,  speaks  of  it  as  the  '  well  enhabited  citie 
called  Cassan,  wheare  for  the  moste  parte  they  make  sylkes  and 
fustian  in  so  great  quantitie  that  he  who  wolde  bestowe  xml 
ducates  in  a  daie  may  find  enough  of  that  merchaundise  to  bestow 
it  on.  It  is  about  iij  myles  in  compasse,  walled,  and  w'houtf oorth 
hath  faire  and  large  subvrbes.' 5  Barbaro  resided  in  Kashan  for  a 
time  and  was  visited  here  by  his  fellow-countryman  Contarini, 
the  Italian  traveller,  who  arrived  at  'Cassan'  on  October  25, 
1474,  and  calls  it  a  finer  city  than  Kum  (4  Como  ').6 

All  modern  travellers  speak  of  the  heat  of  the  place  and 
re-iterate  the  statement  that  the  town  is  noted  for  three  things : 

1  See  Ouseley,  Travels  in  Persia,  supplied    with    water,    were    once    a 
3.  3,  n.  3,  and  3.  100.    Ouseley  cites  favorite  place  of  resort  for  the  Persian 
as  his  authority  '  The  Book  of  Con-  kings,  including  Shah  Abbas  and  Fath 
quests,'  a  chronicle  history    (tarikti)  Ali  Shah ;  but  Fin   is  now  deserted, 
by  Ibn  Aasim  of  Kufah,  who  flourished  See   Curzon,    Persia,  2.    12  ;  Landor, 
in  the  eighth  century  A.D.  Across  Coveted  Lands,  I.  265-266. 

2  See  p.  39,  above.  4  Mustaufi,  cited  by  Barbier  de  Mey- 
8  Fin  is  located  on  the    mountain      nard,  Diet.  geog.  p.  434,  n.  1. 

slopes  about  five  miles  southwest  of  5  Josafa  Barbaro,  Travels,  49.  73. 

Kashan.     Its  garden  and  groves,  well  6  Contarini,    Travels,  49.  129. 


412  FROM   YEZD    TO    TEHERAN 

its  manufacture  of  porcelain  tiles,  brasswork,  and  silk,  its  black 
scorpions,  and  the  cowardice  of  its  inhabitants.  The  latter 
stigma  is  constantly  put  upon  the  Kashanis  by  the  other  Per- 
sians,1 but  I  was  glad  not  to  have  any  occasion  to  judge  whether 
it  is  true.  The  silk,  however,  I  found  good,  judging  from  the 
samples  brought  me  by  a  vender,  who  followed  me  from  the 
bazaar  to  the  telegraph  quarters  and  showed  the  same  enter- 
prising spirit  and  business  energy  for  which  the  Kashanis  were 
praised  hundreds  of  years  ago.2  As  for  the  scorpions,  I  saw 
some  formidable  specimens,  as  the  manager  of  the  telegraph 
station  was  making  a  collection  of  them. 

I  regretted  that  during  my  short  halt  at  Kashan  I  did  not 
know  of  a  Western  legend  which  connects  this  city  with  the 
Three  Kings  of  the  Orient  who  went  to  Jerusalem  to  worship 
the  infant  Christ.  It  is  a  known  fact  that  a  majority  of  the 
Church  Fathers  agree  in  regarding  Persia  as  the  native  country 
of  the  Wise  Men,  without  expressly  locating  their  place  of 
origin.3  The  Italian  traveller  Marco  Polo  (1272)  and  the 
Venetian  envoy  Odoric  of  Pordenone,  who  traversed  this 
route,  the  latter  about  1320,  record  traditions  that  definitely 
attach  the  Three  Wise  Men  to  certain  cities.  Odoric  expressly 
says  that  Kashan,  or  '  Cassan,'  as  he  calls  it,  was  4  the  city  of 
the  Three  Kings  '  and  that  these  worshippers  set  out  from 
there  to  Jerusalem,  which  they  reached  by  divine  aid  in  thir- 
teen days.4  The  passage  in  the  account  of  Odoric  de  Por- 
denone reads  as  follows :  — 

'  DE  LA  CITE  DE  CASSAN.  —  De  ceste  cite  m'en  alay  vers  la  grant 
Inde  par  mer.  Si  vins  par  maintes  journees  a  une  cite  des  trois  roys 
qui  firent  offrande  a  Jhesu  Crist  nouvel  ne.  Et  appelle  on  ceste  cite 
de  Cassan,  cite  royal  de  grant  honneur  mais  Tartre  Font  moult  de- 
struite.  De  cette  cite  de  Cassan  jusques  en  Jherusalem  a  plus  de  L 

1  On    this    point,    see   Sykes,  Ten  8  See  my    article    in    JA  OS.    26. 
Thousand  Miles  in  Persia,  p.  168.  79-83. 

2  See    Barbier  de  Meynard,   Diet.  4  See  Odoric  de  Pordenone,  ed.  Cor- 
geog.  p.  434,  n.  1.  dier,  p.  41,  Paris,  1891. 


KUM 


PERSIAN  GLEANERS 


A  LEGEND  OF  THE  THREE  WISE  MEN        413 

journe'es  dont  on  puet  clerement  appercevoir  que  ly  troy  Roy  qui 
de  ceste  cite  de  Cassan  furent  en  xm  journees  amene  en  Jherusalem 
par  vertu  divine  et  non  humaine.  En  ceste  cite  a  moult  grand  habon- 
dance  de  tous  biens,  de  pain,  et  de  vin  et  de  toutes  autres  choses.' 

According  to  a  legend  given  by  Marco  Polo,  two  of  the  kings 
came  from  4  Saba ' l  and  4  Ava,'  both  of  which  places  are  located 
about  fifty  miles  southwest  of  Teheran,  and  the  third  is  said  to 
have  come  from  '  a  place  three  days'  journey '  from  Avah,  and 
Marco  Polo  states  that  he  '  found  a  village  there  which  goes  by 
the  name  of  Gala  Ataperistan  (i.e.  Kal'ah-i  Atashparastdri), 
which  is  as  much  as  to  say  4  The  Castle  of  the  Fire- Worship- 
pers.' And  the  name  is  rightly  applied,  for  the  people  there  do 
worship  fire.'  In  an  article  entitled  The  Magi  in  Marco  Polo  I 
have  given  various  reasons  for  identifying  the  so-called  '  Castle 
of  the  Fire-Worshippers '  with  Kashan,  which  Odoric  mentions, 
or  a  village  in  its  vicinity,  the  only  rival  to  the  claim  being  the 
town  of  Nam,  whose  Gabar  Castle  has  already  been  mentioned 
above,2  but  I  may  refer  to  the  discussion  in  the  article  without 
repeating  it  here.3  I  should  like  to  have  had  time  to  visit 
Gabarabad,  a  deserted  town  on  the  Isfahan  road  about  twenty 
miles  distant  from  Kashan,  as  its  name  (lit .  '  Gabar  Town ') 
shows  that  there  was  once  a  settlement  of  fire-worshippers  in 
its  vicinity,  and  the  ruins  of  a  magnificent  caravansarai  are 
still  to  be  seen  there.4  In  Kashan  to-day  there  are  some 
Zoroastrians,  for  the  statistics  which  I  gathered  in  Persia 
show  that  about  forty-five  of  them  do  business  in  this  city.6 

Most  of  my  short  stay  in  Kashan  was  occupied  in  purchasing 
articles  which  I  needed,  and  in  securing  some  sort  of  a  vehicle 
to  convey  me  to  Kum.  I  had  been  riding  uninterruptedly  for 
weeks  and  was  very  tired  and  anxious  to  procure  some  means 
of  conveyance  on  wheels.  With  the  aid  of  the  manager  of  the 

1  On     'Saba'    (=  Savah)  cf.  also      quart,  Untersuchungen  zur  Geschichte 
Sykes,  Ten  Thousand  Miles,  p.  264.          von  Eran,  2.  1-19,  Leipzig,  1905. 

2  See  p.  405,  above.  4  Cf.  Bishop,  Journeys  in  Persia,  1. 
8  See  my  article,  The  Magi  in  Marco      232. 

Polo,  JAOS.  26.  79-83,  and  cf.  Mar-  5  See  p.  425,  below. 


414  FROM   YEZD    TO    TEHERAN 

telegraph  station  I  was  able  to  hire  a  lumbering  cart ;  it  had  no 
springs,  but  it  could  at  least  be  driven,  and  I  was  able  to  lie 
down  as  we  travelled.  Four  horses  were  hitched  to  it,  and 
away  we  jolted  for  hours  over  ruts  and  hollows,  till  we  caught 
sight  of  Kum  towards  nightfall  and  were  passing  through  its 
bazaars  and  shops  about  as  they  were  closing. 

Kum  is  little  less  than  a  city  of  mosques,  minarets,  madra- 
sahs, and  corpses,  for,  next  to  Meshad,  it  is  the  most  famous 
burial-place  in  Persia.  Its  special  sanctity  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  it  is  the  proud  possessor  of  the  shrine  of  Fatima,  sister  of 
Imam  Riza,  the  eighth  Imam.  She  was  interred  here  in 
A.D.  816,  arid  honors  are  accorded  her  that  Mohammedanism 
rarely  vouchsafes  to  a  woman.  Kings  have  chosen  the  city  as 
a  final  resting-place  for  their  bones,  and  the  great  Kajar  mon- 
arch Path  Ali  Shah  is  among  the  Persian  monarchs  buried 
there.  Burial  near  Fatima's  shrine  is  in  fact  almost  equivalent 
to  a  viseed  passport  for  heaven,  although  Kum  cannot  quite 
rival  Kerbela  and  Meshad  in  this  respect.1 

The  city  did  not  attract  or  interest  me  enough,  however,  to 
make  me  wish  to  stay  longer  than  was  necessary,  and  I  was 
content  to  remember  it  by  two  photographs  which  I  purchased 
afterwards.  The  mahmdn-khdnah,  or  hostlery,  at  which  I  put  up 
showed  signs  that  we  were  approaching  a  more  civilized  region. 
The  building  had  a  veranda,  a  large  sleeping-room  furnished 
with  a  table  and  a  bed,  and  there  was  a  kitchen,  where  I  found 
a  saucepan  and  tried  the  experiment  of  making  an  omelet, 
which  proved  quite  a  success.  My  most  vivid  impression  of 
the  mahmdn-khdnah,  however,  is  associated  with  my  first  taste 
of  arac.  I  needed  spirits  for  medicinal  purposes,  and  the  ser- 
vants could  procure  only  arac  in  the  bazaar.  I  should  not  like 
to  repeat  the  dose  of  this  particular  brand,  for  the  taste  re- 
sembled what  I  could  imagine  a  combination  of  gin,  whisky, 
and  furniture-varnish  might  be ! 

1  For  valuable  details  concerning  Eastern  Persian  Irak,  pp.  66-77, 
Kum,  consult  Houtura-Schindler,  London,  1897. 


THE   CITY   OF  KUM  415 

To  transport  me  to  Teheran  I  found  that  a  so-called  '  dili- 
gence '  could  be  procured  as  a  substitute  for  the  wretched  cart 
I  had  used  all  day.  I  felt  happy  when  I  heard  at  midnight  the 
announcement  that  it  was  '  ready  '  (hdzir),  but  in  spite  of  this 
assurance  another  hour  was  wasted  before  the  horses  were 
hitched  and  the  rumbling  vehicle  rolled  to  the  door.  It  was 
a  ramshackle  conveyance,  threatening  each  moment  to  fall  to 
pieces,  but  deserving,  I  suppose,  the  respect  due  to  advanced 
age.  Despite  the  discomfort  of  my  cramped  position  and  the 
distressingly  raw  rainy  weather,  I  managed  to  fall  asleep,  and 
I  slept  during  most  of  the  journey  of  twenty  hours,  until,  about 
nine  in  the  evening,  after  seven  days'  travelling  from  Yezd,  we 
arrived  at  Teheran.  A  note  of  the  itinerary  of  the  journey 
may  be  of  some  interest. 

ITINERARY  FROM  YEZD  TO   TEHERAN 

WEDNESDAY,  MAY  13,  1903 

FARSAKHS       MILES 
10.10  A.M.    leave  YEZD 

Pass  Gabar  Dakhmah 
1.20  P.M.    arr. 


_ 

Hoiatabad  4 

2.20  P.M.     Iv.  j 

5.20  P.M.     arr.  Maibud  6 

Time  :  7  hrs.  10  min.   (6  hrs.  10  min.  in  saddle 

+  Ihr.halt) 
Distance  :  10  farsakhs  =  about  36  miles 

THURSDAY,  MAY  14 
4.00  A.M.     Iv.     Maibud 

^JjaftanCorChiaftah)  6  18 

Poor  horses  ;  very  slow  progress 
10.15  A.M.    arr.")  .  .  ,  . 
11.30A.M.    Iv.  }Akdah(orAgdah)  4  12 

Frequent  mirages 

Halt  in  afternoon  for  nearly  an  hour  at  construc- 

tion-camp of  Persian  Telegraph  Company 
Road  mostly  over  a  brown  plain 

6.10  P.M.     arr.  Nu-Gumbaz  9  27 

Time  :  14  hrs.  10  min.  (11  hrs.  40  min.  in  saddle 

-f  2  hrs.  30  min.  halts) 
Distance  :  19  farsakhs  =  57  miles 


416  FROM   YEZD    TO    TEHERAN 

FRIDAY,  MAT  16 

FAKSAKHS       MILES 
3.45  A.M.     Iv.  Nu-Gumbaz 

Plain  and  desert  ;  frequent  mirages 

8.00A.M.      MT.J 

9.20  A.M.     Iv.   J 

Remains  of  an  old  town  in  the  vicinity 
1.55  P.M.     arr.  Neistanak  6  19 

Delayed  here  because  of  lack  of  horses 

Time  :  10  hrs.  10  min.  (8  hrs.  50  min.  in  saddle 
-f  1  hr.  20  min.  halts) 

Distance  :  12  farsakhs  =  37  miles 

SATURDAY,  MAY  16 
1.00  A.M.    Iv.  Neistanak 

Moonlight  ;  horses  very  slow 
8.20A.M.     arr-  |Jokand  7  24 

11.45   A.M.       IV.       J 

No  fresh  horses  ;  3£  hrs.  delay  ;  proceed  with 

same  horses 

5.00  P.M.     arr.  Ardistan  4  15 

Time  :  16  hrs.  (12  hrs.  35  min.  in  saddle  +  3  hrs. 

25  min.  halt) 
Distance  :  11  farsakhs  =  39  miles 

SUNDAY,  MAY  17 
1.15  A.M.     Iv.  Ardistan 

No  post  relay  ;  make  up  a  caravan  of  1  horse 

and  4  donkeys 
7.15  A.M.     arr.  I  _. 

9.30  A.M.   iv.  }M°ehar 

Desert 
3.10P.M.    a,rr.  6  16 


4.50  P.M.     Iv.    j 

Excellent  post-horses  waiting  ;  fast  time  ;  slight 

thunderstorm 

7.30  P.M.     arr.  Abuzaidabad  (or  Abuzadabad)  6  17 

Time  :  18  hrs.  15  min.  (14  hrs.  20  min.  in  saddle 

-f  3  hrs.  55  min.  halts) 
Distance  :  16  farsakhs  =  about  51  miles 

MONDAY,  MAY  18 

4.30  A.M.    Iv.  Abuzaidabad 

7.30A.M.     arr.l  6 

9.10  A.M.     Iv.    }Ka*han 

Hire  a  cart  (gari)  instead  of  post-horses 
11.10  A.M.    Kasimabad  (?) 
2.20  P.M.     Shurab 


A  VIEW  OF  TEHERAN 


A  PERSIAN  GARDEN 


ITINERARY  417 

FARSAKHS  MILES 

5.15  P.M.     Pasangun 

9.30  P.M.     arr.  Kum  12 

Time :  17  hrs.  (3  hrs.  in  saddle,  the  rest  in  gari} 
Distance  :  18  farsakhs,  estimated  at  about  70  miles 

TUESDAY,  MAY  19 
1.00  A.M.     Iv.  Kum 

Travel  in  a  diligence,  sleeping  most  of  the  way 
9.00  P.M.     arr.  TEHERAN  25  85 

Time  :  20  hrs. 

Distance  :  25  farsakhs  =  85  miles 


Time  of  the  journey  :  7  days 

Total  cost :  125  tomans  (about  $120) 


2m 


1 


CHAPTER   XXVI 
TEHERAN,   THE  MODERN   CAPITAL 

« Where  in  sunshine  reaching  out 
Eastern  cities,  miles  about, 
Are  with  mosque  and  minaret 
Among  sandy  gardens  set, 
And  the  rich  goods  from  near  and  far 
Hang  for  sale  in  the  bazaar.' 

—  ROBERT  Louis  STEVENSON, 

A  Child's  Garden  of  Verses. 

4  ISFAHAN  is  fair,  Shiraz  is  beautiful,  but  Teheran  —  Tahrdn 
khaili  khub  ast  —  Teheran  is  very  beautiful,'  this  is  the  en- 
comium which  I  heard  bestowed,  over  and  over  again,  upon  the 
modern  capital  of  Iran  as  I  journeyed  northward  from  Yezd. 
During  a  week's  stay  in  the  metropolis  I  found  the  city  suffi- 
ciently attractive  to  make  me  sympathize,  in  part  at  least,  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  Persians,  even  if  Teheran  cannot  boast 
of  many  of  the  natural  beauties  of  such  a  city  as  Shiraz. 

East  and  West  combine  imperfectly  in  its  mixed  civilization, 
with  a  far  greater  preponderance  of  the  Orient,  as  is  natural. 
Landau  carriages  in  the  public  square,  a  post-office  with 
bilingual  notices  in  Persian  and  French,  well-equipped  tele- 
graph headquarters,  an  imposing  Imperial  Bank,  a  so-called 
Boulevard  des  Ambassadeurs,  along  which  the  ministers  of 
the  foreign  legations  ride  in  official  dress,  not  to  speak  of  shops 
with  European  goods,  two  'hotels,'  a  claim  to  the  use  of  gas, 
and  a  pretense  of  having  a  jingle-bell  tramway,  all  these 
tell  something  of  the  influence  of  the  Occident.  But  all  the 
rest  —  mosques,  minarets,  and  madrasahs,  camels  and  caravan- 
sarais,  bazaars  crowded  with  scuffling  mon  and  veiled  women, 

418 


TEHERAN  AS  A    CAPITAL  419 

with  the  survival  of  many  a  custom  that  seems  to  antedate  the 
time  of  Cyrus  —  are  characteristics  that  belong  to  the  Orient 
and  make  Teheran  as  Oriental  as  any  capital  in  the  East, 
although  I  missed  those  signs  of  national  greatness  which  be- 
longed to  the  days  of  Persia's  by-gone  glory  and  are  visible  at 
Persepolis  even  in  the  ruins. 

Looked  at  from  the  historic  standpoint,  Teheran  may  be 
considered  to  be  the  inheritor  of  the  ancient  honors  of  Pasar- 
gadae  and  Persepolis,  and  the  successor  to  the  imperial  rank 
held  a  few  centuries  ago  by  Shiraz  and  Isfahan.  With  the  rise  of 
Teheran  to  power,  Media  has  been  able  once  more  to  reclaim 
the  supremacy  she  lost  to  Persis  in  the  time  of  Cyrus,  and  the 
present  capital  occupies  a  site  that  is  almost  identical  with  the 
ancient  city  of  Rages  (Avestan  Raghd,  Old  Persian  Raga),  now 
Rei,  its  ruined  suburb,  which  shared  with  Ecbatana  in  antiquity 
the  honors  of  supremacy  over  Iran.  And  yet,  comparatively 
speaking,  Teheran  is  a  modern  town,  a  city  that  came  into 
existence  less  than  seven  hundred  years  ago,  about  the  time 
when  Ragha  began  to  sink  into  oblivion  ;  its  rank,  in  fact,  as 
capital  has  been  held  only  since  1788,  when  the  present  Kajar 
dynasty  came  into  power.  Of  so  little  importance  was  Teheran 
at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  that  Yakut  (c.  1220) 
spoke  of  the  place  merely  as  4  a  stronghold,  one  farsakh  dis- 
tant from  Rei,'  adding  that  the  inhabitants  lived  in  dwellings 
dug  beneath  the  ground  and  were  rebellious  to  all  authority 
and  in  a  constant  state  of  warfare.1  If  then  unimportant, 
the  place  must  have  grown  extensively  during  the  next  four 
hundred  years,  as  we  may  judge  from  the  accounts  by  the  dif- 
ferent European  travellers  who  visited  it  during  that  period; 
and  so  important  had  it  become  by  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, that  Agha  Mohammed  Shah  made  it  his  capital  and 
bestowed  upon  it  the  laurels  won  by  the  overthrow  of  the  Zend 
dynasty  of  Isfahan. 

The  present  size  and  appearance  of  the  city  are  largely  due 

1  Yakut,  p.  399. 


420  TEHERAN,    THE   MODERN   CAPITAL 

\  to  the  late  Shah  Nasr  ad-Din,  who  devoted  himself  with  genu- 
ine enthusiasm,  after  his  first  visit  to  Europe,  to  developing 
and  beautifying  his  chosen  seat  of  government.  The  old  walls 
were  torn  down  for  the  most  part,  the  moat  filled  up  with 
the  debris,  and  an  entirely  new  rampart  was  constructed, 
fully  a  mile  outside  the  older  enclosure,  thus  making  the  com- 
pass of  the  city  vastly  larger.  This  wall,  over  ten  miles  in 
circuit,  is  entered  by  a  dozen  gates,  the  more  important  of 
which  are  capped  by  gayly  decorated  towers  with  glazed  mina- 
rets, whose  shining  tiles  are  seen  at  a  long  distance. 

As  the  city  lies  rather  low  in  a  sandy  plain,  its  location  is  not 
commanding,  but  a  line  of  hills  to  the  north,  behind  which 
towers  the  Alborz  range  crowned  by  the  magnificent  crest  of 
Damavand,  19,400  feet  high,  forms  an  imposing  background  in 
that  direction,  in  contrast  to  the  miles  of  level  tracts  that  stretch 
southward  over  the  territory  traversed  in  coming  from  Yezd. 
The  mountains  temper  the  wind  from  the  north  in  winter, 
and  the  foot-hills,  with  their  'gardens  and  orchards,  afford 
a  pleasant  place  of  resort  during  the  heat  of  summer. 

Descriptions  of  Teheran  are  so  numerous  that  I  may  be  al- 
lowed to  confine  myself  merely  to  the  principal  features  with- 
out going  into  details.1  This  is  not  due  to  alack  of  interest  in 
the  capital  or  to  a  scarcity  of  material  at  hand,  but  it  is  owing 
to  lack  of  space  for  a  more  extended  account  of  the  place. 

A  plan  of  the  city,  if  we  had  a  sketch-map  before  us,  would 
show  that  Teheran  is  laid  out  in  octagonal  form,  roughly  speak- 
ing, and  the  heart  of  the  town  lies  considerably  north  of  the 
middle  point  of  this  walled  enclosure.2  The  principal  square 
in  this  section  is  called  Meiddn-i  Top  Khdnah,  4  Arsenal 
Square,'  a  handsome  quadrilateral,  about  300  yards  long  and 
150  broad,  with  its  larger  side  running  east  and  west  and  its 
surface  paved  in  a  rough  sort  of  way  with  cobble-stones.  The 
central  portion  of  this  extensive  parallelogram  is  occupied  by  a 

1  The  description  given  by  Curzon,  ous  accounts  and  should  be  consulted. 
Persia,  1.  300-353,  supplants  allprevi-  2  Cf.  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  305. 


THE  SOUTHWEST  GATE  OF  THE  MEIDAN  AT  TEHERAN 


Ji 

i    X 

J.. 

1 

—  —  ^^  ^^M^^aMM|» 

THE  AMERICA.N  LEGATION  AT  TEHERAN 


AVENUES  AND   PLAZAS  421 

large  basin  of  water  fenced  in  by  an  iron  railing  and  lined 
on  all  sides  by  old  mounted  cannons.  The  eastern  end  of 
the  plaza  is  practically  devoted  to  the  building  and  grounds 
of  the  Imperial  Bank  of  Persia,  a  rather  imposing  white 
edifice,  in  Perso-European  style,  with  an  arched  gateway  at 
the  left  leading  into  an  attractive  garden,  where  the  English 
members  of  the  bank  find  an  opportunity  on  holidays  to  indulge 
in  tennis.  Out  from  the  north  side  of  the  great  plaza  runs  the 
principal  driveway  of  the  city,  Khiabdn-i  '-Aid  ad-Daulah, 
'Boulevard  des  Ambassadeurs,'  along  which  are  built  the 
residences  of  the  foreign  legations  and  some  of  the  finer  houses 
of  the  city.  On  the  west  side  of  the  square  is  the  Arsenal 
{Top  Khdnah,  lit.  4  Cannon-House '),  with  quarters  for  the 
soldiers  and  some  small  buildings  of  the  same  character  as  those 
on  the  northern  and  southern  sides  of  the  parallelogram.  The 
arched  gateways  that  are  raised  over  the  half-dozen  avenues 
which  lead  from  the  square  are  conspicuous  because  of  the 
gaudy  effect  they  produce  by  their  glazed  tiles  and  fancy  deco- 
rations. The  most  noticeable  of  these  portals  is  the  one  that 
guards  the  entrance  to  the  Khiabdnri  Almdsiah,  or  4  Avenue  of 
Diamonds,'  leading  from  the  southwest  corner  of  the  plaza  to 
the  palace,  and  the  royal  flag  floats  from  the  top  of  this  gateway 
when  the  Shah  is  in  Teheran. 

By  this  exit  we  leave  the  main  square  to  visit  that  portion  of 
the  city  which  lies  to  its  south  and  which  is  the  most  interest- 
ing section  for  foreign  visitors,  because  it  is  the  oldest  and 
most  characteristic,  containing  minor  public  squares,  the  origi- 
nal fortifications,  the  palace  grounds,  and  the  bazaars.  The 
first  point  to  engage  our  attention  is  a  small  square,  outside 
the  palace  enclosure  and  somewhat  to  the  south;  it  is  the  Meiddn-i 
Ark,  '  Citadel  Square,'  or  Meiddn-i  Shdh, 4  Place  de  1'  Empereur.' 
Here,  by  the  side  of  a  large  tank  of  water,  is  mounted  a  huge 
cannon,  known  as  the  Top-i  Murvdrld,  c  Cannon  of  Pearls.' 
According  to  some  accounts,  its  muzzle  was  originally  deco- 
rated with  a  string  of  pearls,  but  other  explanations  are  like- 


422  TEHERAN,    THE  MODERN  CAPITAL 

wise  given.  The  history  of  the  gun  is  also  variously  related. 
But  whatever  the  case  may  be,  this  large  piece  of  artillery 
has  now  a  semi-sacred  character,  because  it  affords  a  place 
of  refuge  (bast)  for  criminals  who  seek  shelter  beneath  its 
shadow,  and  superstition  has  further  endowed  it  with  miracu- 
lous powers,  even  with  the  gift  of  granting  children  to  barren 
women  who  touch  its  brass  mouth.  Facing  one  side  of  this 
square  is  a  stately  arched  portal,  the  Nakdrah  Khdnah,  4  Band- 
Tower,'  or  'Hall  of  the  Royal  Music,'  from  whose  chambers  sun- 
rise and  sundown  are  signalled  by  the  same  noisy  accompani- 
ment that  I  have  described  in  speaking  of  Urumiah  and  Isfahan.1 
The  second  place  of  interest  to  the  south  of  the  Top  Meidan 
is  the  area  of  the  old  fortified  enclosure,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  square,  known  as  the  Ark,  or  4  Citadel,'  within  whose  mud 
walls  is  located  the  Palace  of  the  Shah.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  royal  residence  and  the  various  buildings  and 
grounds  which  belong  to  it,  the  courtyards,  pavilions,  fountains, 
and  gardens  are  a  source  of  pride  to  the  imperial  heart.  The 
Museum  of  the  palace  contains,  among  other  objects  of  interest, 
the  sword  of  Tamerlane  and  the  mail-coat  of  Shah  Abbas,  as 
well  as  a  priceless  collection  of  crown  jewels,  together  with 
much  that  is  tawdry,  according  to  the  judgment  of  those  best 
entitled  to  speak  on  the  subject.  The  most  often  described 
among  the  treasures,  because  the  handsomest  from  the  artistic 
point  of  view,  are  the  magnificent  jewelled  globe  —  a  geo- 
graphical study  in  emeralds,  diamonds,  and  turquoises  — and  the 
famous  Peacock  Throne  (Takht-i  Td'us),  which  is  said  to  have 
been  brought  from  Delhi  in  India  by  Nadir  Shah,  the  Great 
Mogul,  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  but,  ac- 
cording to  Lord  Curzon's  claim,  it  is  not  the  original  Peacock 
Throne,  but  was  made  for  Fath  AH  Shah,  more  than  half  a 
century  later  than  Nadir  Shah.2 

1  See  pp.  104,  267,  above.  details,  as  I  neglected  the  ordinary 

2  See  Curzon,    Persia,  1.  317-322,       'sight-seeing'  duty  of    a  visit  to  the 
to  whom  I  must  refer  the  reader  for      palace  and  museum. 


A  GRADUATING  CLASS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  FOR  BOYS  AT  TEHERAN 


A  PERSIAN  FAMILY 


THE   ROYAL   RESIDENCE  AND    CHIEF  BUILDINGS  423 

The  chief  bazaars  of  the  city  are  located  also  to  the  south 
of  the  Top  Meidan.  They  are  similar  to  the  vaulted,  covered 
structures  that  I  have  already  described  in  other  cities,  with 
the  customary  shops,  booths,  mazy  passages,  and  courtyards  for 
caravans,  but  all  on  a  larger  scale  than  elsewhere  in  Persia. 
The  opportunities  which  I  found  in  them  for  shopping  were  ex- 
cellent, but  I  sought  in  vain  for  one  object  which  I  wished  to 
purchase ;  it  was  a  flag  with  the  Persian  emblem  of  the  Lion 
and  the  Sun.  The  flag  has  little  significance  in  Persian  patri- 
otism ;  for  that  reason  it  is  not  commonly  on  sale,  so  I  had 
to  have  the  banner  made  to  order.  I  may  add,  however,  that 
it  was  handsomely  painted,  and  it  now  hangs  in  my  study 
as  a  memento  of  my  journey  to  Iran.. 

Regarding,  the  other  native  edifices  in  the  older  part  of  the 
city  there  is  little  to  say.  The  mosques  of  Teheran  are  of 
minor  importance,  considering  that  they  are  in  the  capital,  and 
none  of  them  can  compare  in  sanctity  with  the  shrine  of  Shah 
Abdul  Azim  near  its  ruined  suburb,  Rei.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  madrasahs,  or  religious  colleges,  and  several  educa- 
tional institutions  on  royal  foundations,  including  the  Shah's 
College,  which  is  supported  by  funds  from  the  Crown  and 
employs  European  instructors  as  well  as  native  teachers  ;  but, 
although  this  institution  furnishes  free  instruction,  clothing, 
and  food,  many  young  Persians  go  to  the  schools  established 
by  the  foreign  missions,  and  over  a  hundred  are  in  attendance 
at  the  American  School  for  Boys  in  Teheran.1 

As  we  return  from  the  older  part  of  the  town  to  the  south- 
east entrance  of  the  chief  Meidan,  we  pass  the  large  building 
occupied  by  the  Indo-European  Telegraph  Company,  where 
there  is  an  opportunity  to  send  a  communication  home  by 
cable,  and  then  we  again  enter  the  main  square.  Crossing 
to  the  northwest  of  the  great  quadrilateral,  we  leave  it  by 
the  gateway  that  arches  a  street  leading  to  another  grand 

1  See  Sixty -seventh  Annual  Report  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  V.  S.  A. 
of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  p.  238,  New  York,  1904. 


424  TEHERAN,    THE  MODERN   CAPITAL 

enclosed  area,  the  largest,  although  not  the  most  important, 
plaza  in  Teheran.  It  is  the  city's  great  parade-ground,  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  and  nearly  as  wide,  and  is  called 
Meiddn-i  Mashk,  4  Drill  Square.'  This  vast  area  is  one  of  the 
largest  enclosed  grounds  for  manoeuvring  that  there  is  in  the 
world,1  and  here  the  Shah's  troops  go  through  their  military 
exercises,  having  been  trained  in  Occidental  tactics  by  Euro- 
pean drill-masters.  But  this  immense  Champ  de  Mars  is  com- 
paratively little  used,  and  it  served  as  an  admirable  playground 
for  boys,  when  I  saw  it,  or  as  a  place  where  stray  animals  that 
had  died  from  disease  or  some  other  cause  were  allowed  to  lie 
until  devoured  by  dogs. 

The  northernmost  section  of  Teheran  is  largely  European,  as 
I  have  already  intimated.  A  short  distance  from  the  great 
parade-ground  there  are  to  be  found  the  grounds  and  buildings 
of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission,  with  its  dozen  or  more 
laborers  in  evangelistic,  medical,  and  educational  work.  From 
the  Mission  it  is  an  easy  walk  to  the  English  Hotel.  This  small 
hotel  is  the  place  where  foreigners  usually  stay  when  on  a  brief 
visit.  It  is  conveniently  located  near  the  principal  thorough- 
fare, the  Avenue  of  the  Ambassadors,  along  which  we  drive 
past  the  various  diplomatic  residences.  The  Legation  of  the 
United  States  is  pleasantly  situated,  and  its  grounds  are  attrac- 
tive and  have  been  occupied  for  about  twenty  years,  as  the 
Legation  was  established  in  1883.  As  I  passed  through  its 
gateway  and  entered  the  enclosure,  I  remember  the  thrill 
which  I  felt  when  I  raised  my  hat  to  salute  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  and  I  was  welcomed  by  our  American  Minister,  Mr. 
Richmond  Pearson.  To  our  Secretary  of  Legation,  Mr.  John 
Tyler,  who  has  resided  in  Teheran  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
I  was  indebted,  besides  other  favors,  for  the  privilege  of  a 
visit  to  the  Persian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  whose  two 
sons  I  had  met  at  Berlin  and  St.  Petersburg,  where  each 
occupies  a  position  as  Minister  from  the  Persian  Court. 

1  Pekin  alone  can  claim  a  larger  one,  if  I  understood  my  informant  aright. 


THE  PARSI  SCHOOL  AT  TEHERAN 


ZOROASTRIAN   SCHOOLBOYS  AT  TEHERAN 


V 


THE  AMERICAN  LEGATION  425 

I  found  in  him  the  grace  of  manner  and  polished  behavior 
that  belongs  to  the  cultivated  Persian,  for  a  gentleman  is  a 
gentleman  all  the  world  over.  There  was  no  oppressive  for- 
mality, the  conversation  proceeded  easily,  aided  by  Mr.  Tyler's 
skill,  and  turned  eventually  to  the  subject  of  travelling  in 
Persia.  My  host  expressed  an  interest  in  my  journey,  espe- 
cially in  my  experiences  on  the  Behistan  Rock.  He  requested 
me  to  pronounce  some  of  the  Ancient  Persian  words  in  the 
inscription  of  Darius  in  order  to  compare  them  with  the  Modern 
Persian  form,  and  we  conversed  also  about  the  platform  of 
Persepolis,  a  magnificent  representation  of  which  in  tapestry 
completely  filled  one  wall  of  the  large  room  in  which  we  were 
sitting.  Sweetmeats,  tea,  and  cigarettes  were  served,  and  a 
gracious  word  at  parting  completed  the  visit. 

Because  of  my  interests  and  because  of  the  many  associations 
of  Zoroaster's  name  with  Rei,  the  suburb  of  Teheran,  I  was 
anxious  to  meet  the  Zoroastrians,  and  was  happy  that  among 
the  first  visits  I  received  was  one  from  the  secretary  of  the 
Zoroastrian  Amelioration  Society,  Ardeshir  Edulji  Reporter, 
agent  in  Teheran  for  the  Parsis  of  Bombay.  This  gentleman, 
whose  brother  I  had  previously  known,  gave  me  excellent  oppor- 
tunities for  becoming  acquainted  with  the  circumstances  of  his 
co-religionists  at  the  capital,  and  he  added  material  to  my  stock 
of  information  concerning  the  Zoroastrians  throughout  Iran. 
His  statistics  show  that  the  number  of  Zoroastrians  is  increas- 
ing slightly  and  not  declining.  The  figures  are  as  follows  :  — 

Yezd  and  vicinity between  8000  and  8500 

Kerman .    approximately  2400 

Teheran 324 

Kashan 45 

Shiraz .42 

Kum 8 

Isfahan 6 

Sultanabad 4 

Total  number  of  Zoroastrians  in  Persia  about     .     .     11,000 


426  TEHERAN,   THE  MODERN   CAPITAL 


The  Zoroastrians  of  Teheran,  taken  as  a  whole,  are  in  better 
circumstances  than  those  in  any  other  city  of  Persia,  because 
of  the  more  liberal  conditions  that  prevail  in  general  at  the 
capital.  The  most  prominent  member  of  the  community  is  a 
rich  banker,  Arbab  Jamshid  Bahman,  whose  wealth  is  estimated 
in  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tomans,  and  to  whom  recogni- 
tion at  Court  is  also  accorded  —  a  fact  which  helps  the  position 
of  the  Zoroastrians  considerably,  since  an  appeal  to  the  Shah  is 
possible  through  his  mediation.  His  integrity  is  of  the  highest 
order,  and  his  esteem,  even  in  the  eyes  of  the  Mohammedans, 
who  would  naturally  despise  him  as  an  'infidel,'  is  so  great, 
that  the  Persians  place  implicit  faith  in  his  honesty  —  a  tribute 
paid  to  no  other  native  banker  as  yet,  so  far  as  my  knowledge 
goes.  This  is  a  tribute  not  alone  to  his  uprightness  (arshtdt 
in  the  A  vesta),  but  also  to  the  teachings  of  Zoroaster,  who  made 
truth  and  honesty  a  watchword  of  the  religion  and  whose  creed 
was  4good  thoughts,  good  words,  good  deeds.' 

Arbab  Jamshid  called  upon  me  shortly  after  my  arrival 
and  invited  me  to  visit  his  home  and  his  beautiful  garden 
—  a  privilege  of  which  I  availed  myself  twice.  The  garden- 
court  adjoining  his  house  in  the  city  is  laid  out  in  the 
characteristic  Persian  manner  with  fruit  trees,  flowering  shrubs, 
trellised  arbors,  pathways,  and  a  fountain,  and  in  addition  to 
this  a  door  opens  into  a  small  chamber  on  one  side  that  is  used 
as  an  Izashnah-Gah,  or  chapel,  in  which  the  rites  of  the  Zoroas- 
trian  faith  are  occasionally  conducted  by  a  priest.  We  spent 
some  time  comfortably  seated  beneath  the  fruit  trees,  chatting 
on  general  topics,  eating  sweetmeats  and  dates  that  had  been 
sent  by  the  Zoroastrians  of  Yezd,  and  drinking  tea,  but  not 
smoking.  The  business  quarters  of  Arbab's  banking  establish- 
ment form  a  part  of  his  own  residence,  arid  a  large  staff  of 
clerks  and  assistants  are  occupied  in  conducting  his  affairs. 
Some  idea  of  the  number  of  this  corps  of  employees  may  be  ob- 
tained from  the  picture  of  the  group  which  I  reproduce.  The 
Zoroastrian  banker  himself  sits  in  the  second  row,  to  the  right 


% 


THE   ZOROASTRIANS   OF   TEHERAN  427 

of  the  middle  as  we  face  the  picture,  with  a  scarf  thrown  over 
his  shoulders,  and  with  his  two  little  sons  squatting  in  front 
of  him,  in  Oriental  fashion,  near  the  fountain. 

The  Teheran  Parsis,  as  I  learned,  take  an  interest  in  educa- 
tion, and  I  am  able  to  present  also  a  photograph  of  their  Boys' 
School,  with  the  teacher,  Kayomars  Vafadar,  in  the  foreground 
and  some  of  the  members  of  Arbab  Jamshid's  staff  of  assistants 
standing  by  the  side  of  the  scholars.  The  attendance  at  the 
school,  so  far  as  my  information  goes,  is  fair,  and  is  proportion- 
ately larger  than  that  at  the  Jewish  schools  in  Teheran,  con- 
sidering the  relative  size  of  the  respective  communities,  there 
being  5100  Jews,  in  all,  as  against  324  Zoroastrians.  Out 
of  the  five  thousand  Jews,  statistics  in  1904  show  a  total  of  only 
372  attending  the  two  schools  for  boys  and  girls  established 
at  Teheran  in  1898  by  the  Alliance  Israelite  Universelle  —  a 
matter  for  the  consideration  of  both  the  amelioration  societies 
engaged  in  the  betterment  of  their  co-religionists  in  Iran.1  It 
would  be  interesting  and  instructive,  if  it  were  possible,  to  draw 
a  comparison  between  these  two  isolated  religious  communities 
and  show  the  results  accomplished  in  each  case  by  the  special  so- 
cieties which  have  their  interests  in  charge.  Such  a  comparison 
should  include  also  the  work  of  the  schools  of  the  various  Chris- 
tian missions  in  Teheran,  and  should  be  summarized  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Mohammedan  institutions,  before  a  final  conclusion 
is  drawn. 

But  that  is  a  matter  about  which  I  am  not  now  qualified 
to  speak,  nor  have  I  time  to  devote  more  attention  to  the 
subject  at  present,  but  must  turn  rather  to  the  theme  of  the 
succeeding  chapter,  closely  connected  with  Zoroastrianism  and 
Teheran  —  Rei,  the  ruined  suburb  of  the  capital. 

1  See  Bulletin  de  V Alliance  Israelite  242  in  the  boys'  school,  130  in  the  girls' 

universelle,  deuxieme  serie,  no.  29,  p.  school.      Compare  likewise  my  article 

126  (cf.  also  pp.  168-169),  Paris,  1904,  '  Teheran '  in  the  Jewish  Encyclopedia, 

where  the  school-attendance  is  given  as  12.  73-74,  New  York,  1906. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 
RUINS  OF   REI,   THE   ANCIENT   RAGHA 

4  How  doth  the  city  sit  solitary  that  was  full  of  people  ! 
How  is  she  become  as  a  widow,  she  that  was  great  among  the  nations.' 

—  JEREMIAH,  Lamentations,  1.  1. 

SOME  Iranian  Jeremiah  might  well  find  cause  to  lament  over 
that  vast  heap  of  ruins,  six  miles  southeast  of  Teheran,  which 
once  formed  the  city  of  Ragha,  or  Rages,  the  metropolis  of 
ancient  Media  and  one  of  the  oldest  centres  of  civilization  in 
Iran.  Sanctified  as  the  cradle  of  Zoroast nanism,  hallowed  for 
a  day  by  the  presence  of  the  angel  Raphael,  exalted  by 
princes  and  cast  down  by  conquerors,  this  city  that  was  great 
among  the  nations  is  now  but  a  mass  of  crumbling  walls, 
mounds,  hollows,  and  ruined  watercourses,  with  but  few  signs 
of  life  amid  the  dust  of  ages.  If  marked  on  the  map  at  all,  it 
is  designated  as  the  Ruins  of  Rei,  or  Rhey  (pronounced  like 
English  ray),  for  Rei  is  the  modern  form  of  Ragha,  Rhagse,  or 
Rages.  Treasure-hunters  dig  for  coins  and  pottery  amid  its 
deserted  tumuli,  and  brick-hunters  demolish  its  walls  for 
building-materials  to  be  used  in  Teheran.  In  a  few  places, 
it  is  true,  the  irrigator  has  restored  an  ancient  aqueduct  or 
cistern  and  thus  converted  a  sand-heap  into  a  cultivated 
plot  of  ground,  but  otherwise  desolation  reigns  everywhere. 

To  the  modern  Persians  Rei  is  known  chiefly  as  the  place 
adjoining  the  shrine  of  Shah  Abdul  Azim,  which  is  visited 
annually  by  thousands  of  pilgrims  and  within  whose  precincts 
the  late  Shah,  Nasr  ad-Din,  was  assassinated  in  1896.  Within 
the  confines  of  Rei  itself  there  is  also  a  renowned  spring, 
Ohashmah-i  All,  'Fountain  of  AH,'  named  after  the  cousin 
and  son-in-law  of  Mohammed  and  therefore  more  or  less  sacred. 

428 


3  a 
g  .1 
^  43 

I! 

os  *3 
2 

I 


V 


ANTIQUITY  OF   THE   RUINS  AT  REI  429 

Upon  a  hill  in  a  northeasterly  direction  from  Rei  is  the 
Zoroastrian  Tower  of  Silence,  where  the  Gabars  expose  their 
dead.  Among  the  ruins  at  Rei  there  are  some  which  have  a 
special  interest,  and  I  shall  therefore  describe  them  in  detail ; 
but  one  of  the  chief  distinctions  of  Rei  nowadays  is  that  it 
forms  a  terminus  of  Persia's  only  railroad,  an  insignificant  line 
running  from  Teheran  to  the  mosque  of  Shah  Abdul  Azim. 
Over  the  six  miles  of  track,  with  little  attention  to  regularity 
or  punctuality,  a  train  of  a  few  cars  is  drawn  by  a  c  mawsheen,' 
as  the  natives  call  the  engine,  having  Persianized  the  French 
word  machine.  In  visiting  Rei,  however,  experience  proves 
that  it  is  better  to  rely  on  a  good  horse  as  a  means  of  transpor- 
tation rather  than  trust  to  this  uncertain  conveyance,  since  the 
distance  can  be  covered  in  an  hour's  canter.  The  road,  lined 
with  caravan  after  caravan,  all  on  their  way  to  or  from  the 
capital,  is  not  uninteresting,  and  I  felt  I  had  been  but  a  short 
time  in  the  saddle  when  I  found  myself  dismounting  with  my 
friends  to  enjoy  a  morning  cup  of  tea  beneath  the  ruined  cita- 
del and  the  huge  moundlike  walls  that  mark  the  northern  out- 
line of  this  ancient  city. 

The  date  of  the  founding  of  Ragha,  or  Rei,  is  lost  in  oblivion, 
although  tradition  assigns  it  to  Hoshang,  the  first  king  of  Iran, 
in  the  fourth  millennium  before  Christ.1  According  to  the 
Bible,  Rages,  or  Ragau,  as  the  name  is  given,  must  have  been  a 
flourishing  city  in  the  eighth  and  seventh  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era,  since  the  books  of  Tobit  and  Judith  mention  it 
as  an  important  contemporary  of  Nineveh  and  Ecbatana,  and 
the  strange  story  of  the  angel  Raphael's  visit  to  Rages  is 
familiar  to  all  who  know  the  Apocrypha.2  The  Avesta  twice 

1  See  the  legends  cited  by  Barbier  Lb'hr,  in  Kautzsch,   Die  Apokryphen 
de  Meynard,  Diet.  geog.  p.  273,  n.  1.  des  Alten  Testaments,  Freiburg,  1898. 

2  See  Tobit  1.  14  ;  4.  1,  20  ;  5.  5  ;  6.  The  correct  reading  is  also  given  in  the 
12  ;  9.  2  (and  for  '  Rages '  in  Tobit  6.  9  old  Latin  version,  Itala,  in  the  Hebrew, 
read  '  Ecbatana,'  which  is  rightly  given  and  in   the   Aramaic;    cf.  Neubauer, 
in  two  texts,  the  Codex  Vaticanus  B  Book  of  Tobit,   introduction,  pp.  36, 
and  the  Codex  Sinaiticus  K)  ;  see  also  55,  78,  Oxford,  1878. 


430  RUINS    OF  RE  I,    THE  ANCIENT  RAG  HA 

alludes  to  Ragha  in  connection  with  Zoroaster's  name,  the 
f  Pahlavi  texts  do  likewise,  and  tradition  makes  Rei  the  home  of 
his  mother.1  The  Old  Persian  inscriptions  speak  of  the  dis- 
trict and  city  of  Raga,  and  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics 
refer  to  it  in  connection  with  Alexander  and  his  successors; 
the  later  Persian  and  Arabic  writings  have  much  to  say  of  its 
importance,  one  of  its  claims  to  renown  being  the  fact  that 
Harun  al-Rashid  was  born  at  Rei  in  763.  With  a  fair  degree 
of  completeness  we  can  trace  its  annals  down  to  the  fifteenth 
century,  by  which  time  it  appears  to  have  fallen  into  its  final 
decay,  as  Clavijo,  the  Spanish  ambassador  to  the  court  of 
Timur  Lang,  in  1404,  describes  it  as  '  a  great  city  all  in  ruins.'  2 
A  detailed  history  of  the  city  I  shall  reserve  for  publication 
elsewhere,3  but  I  shall  reproduce  here  from  the  Arabic  an 
account  of  Rei,  its  gates,  and  its  market-places,  given  by  the 
Mohammedan  geographer  Istakhri  in  the  tenth  century.  He 
says :  — 

1  Rei  is  the  largest  of  all  the  cities  in  its  vicinity;  it  is  located  on 
the  route  which  runs  from  Arak  to  the  east,  and  there  is  no  city 
more  populous,  more  prosperous,  or  larger  than  it  throughout  all 
Islam,  except  Nishapur.  The  latter  has  a  greater  area  and  has 
lattice-work  buildings,4  a  palace,  and  other  advantages,  but  Rei  is 
superior  to  it.  Its  length  (like  Nishapur)  is  a  farsakh  and  a  half, 
and  its  buildings  are  of  clay,  although  plaster  and  brick  are  also 
employed  in  it.  The  city  has  several  famous  gates ;  among  them 
is  the  Gate  of  Tak,  which  leads  out  toward  Jabal  and  Arak ;  the 
Gate  of  Balisan,  which  leads  to  Kazvin ;  the  Gate  of  Kuhkin,  toward 
Tabaristan ;  the  Gate  of  Hasham,  toward  Kumis  and  Khorasan ; 
and  the  Gate  of  Sin,  toward  Kum.  The  chief  market-places,  or 
bazaars,  are  Ruzat,  Balisan,  Dahak-i  Nu,  Nasarabad,  Sarbanan,  and 
the  Bab-i  Jabal,  Bab-i  Hasham,  and  Bab-i  Sin.  The  most  important 
of  these  is  Ruzat,  which  does  the  principal  business  and  has  the 

1  For  the  passages,  see  my  Zoroas-  edited  by  Jivanji  Jamshedji  Modi.     I 
ter,  pp.  202-205.  do   not  agree  with   Rawlinson's  view 

2  See  Clavijo,  Narrative  of  an  Em-  that  the.  ruins  at  Veramin  represent 
bossy,   Hakluyt    Society,   26.  99 ;    cf.  ancient  Ragha. 

also  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  349.  4  Or  does  it  mean    « a  network  of 

8  See    Spiegel    Memorial     Volume,      buildings '  ?  See  p.  342,  n.  1. 


v 


ARABIC  DESCRIPTIONS   OF  RE  I  431 

largest  caravansarais ;  it  is  a  broad  street  with,  lattice-work  caravan- 
sarais  and  buildings.1  The  citadel  is  in  one  quarter  of  the  city  and 
in  it  there  is  a  mosque.  Most  of  the  city  is  in  ruins,  and  the  palace 
is  in  the  rampart.2  The  water  comes  from  wells,  and  there  are 
water-conduits  (Jcanats).  One  of  the  two  streams  for  drinking-water 
in  the  city  is  named  Surakani,  and  it  flows  toward  the  Euzat 
quarter ;  the  other  is  named  Jilani  (or  Gilani),  flowing  toward  the 
Sarbanan  quarter.  These  streams  furnish  the  drinking-supply, 
but  as  there  are  many  canals  (kanats),  the  people  distribute  over 
their  farms  the  water  that  is  not  needed  for  drinking  purposes. 
The  coins  that  are  current  in  the  city  are  the  dirham  and  the  dinar. 
The  inhabitants  resemble  the  people  of  Arak  in  appearance  and 
are  of  refined  manners.  They  are  chiefly  occupied  with  trade  and 
commerce.' 3 

The  description  of  Rei  given  by  Ibn  Haukal,  whose  work 
(about  975)  is  based  on  Istakhri,  but  whose  description,  espe- 
cially of  gates,  is  sufficiently  independent  to  deserve  quotation 
in  full,  reads  :  — 

'  The  most  considerable  city  of  those  we  have  mentioned  is  Rei. 
After  Baghdad  there  is  not  in  the  eastern  regions  any  city  more 
flourishing.  Its  gates  are  much  celebrated;  one  of  them  is  called 
the  Darwazah  Natan,  facing  the  mountainous  country,  or  the 
Kohistan  of  Arak;  another  leads  to  Kazvin;  another,  called  the 
Darvazah  Gerhak,4  is  in  the  direction  of  Kum.  And  there  are 
many  remarkable  streets  and  quarters  in  this  city,  such  as  Rudah, 
Kalisan,  Dahak  Nu,  Nasarabad,  Sarbanan ;  Bab  al-Jabal,  or  the 
Mountain  Gate ;  Dar-i  Hasham,  or  Hasham's  Gate ;  the  Dar-i  Ahanin, 
or  the  Iron  Gate ;  and  the  gate  called  Dar-i  Athab :  but  the  quarter  of 
Rudah  is  the  most  populous  and  flourishing  of  all.  In  this  place 
(Rei)  are  many  bazaars,  caravansarais,  and  market-places.  In  the 
suburbs  there  is  a  mosque.  The  citadel  is  in  good  repair,  and  there 
is  a  wall  round  the  suburbs,  which  is,  however,  falling  to  decay  and 

1  See  preceding  note.  (thanks  again  to  Dr.   Yohannan  and 

2  Judging  from  the  description  of  Professor  Gottheil  for  assistance  with 
Yakut  (tr.  Barbier  de  Meynard,  Diet,  the  Arabic).    For  a  briefer  description 
geog.  p.  277),  the    palace,    like    the  of  Rei  by  Istakhri,  see  De  Goeje,  1.  202. 
mosque,  must  have  been  situated  within  4  The  precise  reading  of  these  names 
the   rampart  of  the  citadel ;    but  the  in  the  Arabic  letters  is  not  certain,  and 
text  is  not  absolutely  clear  to  me.  this  probably  accounts  for    some  of 

8  Istakhri,    ed.    De    Goeje,    1.  207      the  seeming  variations  from  Istakhri. 


432  RUINS   OF  REI,    THE  ANCIENT  RAG  HA 

almost  desolate.  Here  they  have  both  river-water  and  water 
V  brought  by  canals  or  trenches;  one  of  these  is  called  the  Kariz 
Shahi,  or  Royal  Aqueduct ;  it  passes  by  Sarbanan ;  another,  called 
Gilani,  also  passes  through  Sarbanan.  For  the  most  part  the  inhabit- 
ants drink  the  water  of  these  aqueducts.  There  are  many  canals 
besides.  Here  they  cultivate  the  land  and  practise  husbandry,  and 
traffic  for  gold  and  direms.  The  people  of  this  place  are  hospitable 
and  polite.  Here  they  manufacture  fine  linen,  cotton,  and  camelots, 
which  are  sent  to  all  parts  of  the  world.' 1 

The  northern  wall,  which  I  have  mentioned,  is  the  best-pre- 
served portion  of  the  entire  circumvallation,  and  the  mound 
rising  before  it  is  the  site  of  the  ancient  citadel.  The  natives 
call  the  mound  Kal^ah-i  Rei, c  Castle  of  Rei,'  and  it  is  evidently 
this  elevation  to  which  Yakut  refers  when  he  speaks  of  the 
height  as  Eei-bandi,  'Stronghold  of  Rei.'2  According  to 
Yakut,  who  quotes  liberally  from  his  predecessors  in  his  long 
article  on  Rei,  the  citadel  was  situated  outside  the  4  city '  itself 
and  formed  a  part  of  the  so-called  c  exterior  town,'  or  suburb, 
named  Mohammadiab.3  Its  walls  and  moat,  he  adds,  were 
completed  by  al-Mahdi  in  A.D.  775  (A.H.  158),  and  the  great 
mosque  was  also  built  by  this  same  ruler.4  Yakut's  description 
of  the  '  outer  city,'  the  4  citadel,'  and  the  '  city '  itself  —  to 
repeat  again  his  own  designations  —  would  be  worth  quoting 
in  full  if  there  were  space,  because  his  remarks  make  us  more 
sure  of  our  ground  when  endeavoring  to  trace  among  the  ruins 
the  main  features  of  by -gone  Rei.  By  far  the  best  description 
of  these  remains,  however,  was  given  by  an  Englishman,  Ker 
Porter,  nearly  a  century  ago.  His  account  was  also  accom- 

1  Ibn  Haukal,  Oriental  Geography,      cites,  is  a  misreading  of  the  Arabic 
tr.  Ouseley,  pp.  176-177.    In  this  quo-     letters  for  Eei-bandi. 

tation,     I    have    made     insignificant          8  See    the    French    translation    of 

changes  in  punctuation  and  spelling,  Yakut's    long  article  on   *  Rei,'   and 

so  as  to  conform  with  the  rest  of  the  *  Mohammadiah  '  in  Barbier  de  Mey- 

book.  nard,   Diet.  geog.    de  la  Perse,    pp. 

2  Yakut,  p.  277.     The  name  Zobei-  273-280,  516-518. 

diah  given  to  the  citadel  in  the  text  of          *  Yakut,  pp.  277,  517. 
Jafar  ar-Razi,  which  Yakut  (p.  517) 


> 


KER  PORTER'S  DESCRIPTION   OF   THE  RUINS  433 

parried  by  a  well-sketched  plan,  which  will  remain  authoritative 
until  careful  archaeological  surveys  and  researches  point  out  the 
changes  that  have  occurred  since  his  day  owing  to  the  lapse  of 
time,  excavations  by  the  natives,  and  the  building  of  the  rail- 
road to  Rei.1  Ker  Porter's  description  is  so  excellent  and  his 
book  so  little  accessible  nowadays,  that  I  regard  it  worth  while 
to  reproduce  the  main  paragraph  here,  making  such  changes 
in  punctuation  as  would  be  required  to-day,  and  including  his 
excellent  map  of  Rei,  which  may  be  helpful  in  locating  the 
gates  mentioned  by  the  Arab  geographers,  and  adding  explana- 
tory footnotes  of  my  own.2 

'The  ruins  lie  about  five  miles  southeast  of  Teheran,  extending 
from  the  foot  of  the  curving  mountains  and  running  in  that  direc- 
tion across  the  plain  in  an  oblique  line  southwest.  The  surface  of 
the  ground,  all  over  this  tract,  is  marked  by  hollows,  mounds, 
mouldering  towers,  tombs,  and  wells.  The  fabric  of  all  being  chiefly 
of  that  burnt  and  sun-dried  material  which  seems  to  bid  defiance  to 
the  last  oblivious  touch  of  time.  A  very  strong  citadel  appears  to 
have  occupied  a  high  and  rocky  promontory  that  juts  out  consider- 
ably beyond  the  other  huge  buttresses  of  nature  which  here  start 
from  the  different  clefts  in  the  mountains.3  Along  the  perpendicular 
sides  of  this  height  we  easily  discovered  the  foundations  of  its 
embattled  works.  And  directly  from  its  base  a  line  of  massy  forti- 
fication appeared,  reaching  southward  and  apparently  defending  the 
eastern  face  of  the  city,  till  it  terminated  in  an  immense  square  bul- 
wark, flanked  with  towers  and  making  a  fortress  in  itself.4  Thence 
the  wall  curved  round  in  an  irregular  oblique  sweep  towards  the 
northwest  till  it  met  another  enormous  square  tower  flanked  in  like 
manner  with  six  round  ones.5  This  tower  terminated  not  only  that 
line  of  wall,  but  another,  which  had  also  started  from  the  base  of  the 

1  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  future  plan;  it  is  the  citadel  alluded  to  by 
student  or  traveller,  or  an  investigator  Yakut,  as  I  have  already  described, 
like  M.  de  Morgan,  may  undertake  a  4  This  is  the  eastern  outline  marked 
series  of  careful  researches  at  Rei,  be-  ACCD  in  the  plan. 

cause  the  field  is  a  promising  one.  5  On  the  plan  this  is  the  broken  line 

2  Ker  Porter,    Travels   in    Persia,  running  upward  toward  the  northwest, 
1.  358-360.  past  the  village  of  Shah  Abdul  Azim 

3  This  is  marked  A  on  Ker  Porter's  and  the  tomb  of  the  Imam  Abdullah. 

2r 


r 


434  RUINS   OF  REI,    THE  ANCIENT  RAGHA 

promontory  and  formed  the  northern  front  of  the  city ; l  the  whole 
fortified  space  between  the  three  walls  taking  the  shape  of  a  tri- 
angle, its  vertex  [A]  touching  the  citadel-promontory,  its  base  [DD] 
stretching  southwest  from  the  one  large,  square  tower  to  the  other. 
These  walls  are  still  many  feet  in  height,  of  prodigious  thickness, 
and  have  been  additionally  strengthened  by  proportionably  sized 
towers  connecting  the  wall  and  placed  at  point-blank  arrow-distance 
from  each  other.  The  two  enormous  fortress-like  towers  before 
mentioned  [DD],  which  terminate  the  southeastern  and  north- 
western points  of  the  triangle,  are  united  with  the  walls ;  but  in 
going  along  the  outer  side  of  the  longest  line  which  stretches  from 
the  one  square  tower  to  the  other,  we  find  a  third  tower  about  the 
middle  of  the  wall,  but  standing  out  at  some  distance  from  it.2  It  is 
nearly  of  the  same  dimensions  with  the  others  and  supported  in  the 
same  way  with  round  flanking  towers.  Probably  a  ditch  and  a  bridge 
lay  between  this  great  bulwark  and  the  principal  gate  of  the  town,  this 
entrance  lying  in  almost  a  direct  line  with  the  citadel.  The  remains 
of  other  fortifications  are  near  it,  as  if  still  more  to  protect  this 
ingress  which  opens  to  the  southwestern  side  of  the  plain.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  these  three  square  towers  [DDD]  commanded  the 
three  great  entrances  to  the  city,  the  northern  holding  the  com- 
munication with  Azerbijan  and  Mazanderan,  the  southern  that 
toward  Khorasan,  and  the  southwestern  pointing  to  Hamadan,  the 
ancient  Ecbatana.3  Therefore,  by  this  last  gate,  it  is  probable  that 
Tobit's  celestial  messenger  entered  on  his  embassy  to  Gab[a]el.4 
At  the  foot  of  the  great  promontory  [A]  which  crowns  the  apex 
of  the  fortifications,  and  projecting  within  their  area,  is  another 
range  of  equally  strong  walls,  embracing  a  considerable  space  and 
forming  a  lower  citadel  [B],  within  which,  in  all  likelihood, 
were  the  royal  palace  and  other  buildings  of  state.5  Another 

1  That  is,  running  from  A  westward  4  Through  the  same  approach  Darius 
to  D.     The  outlines  of  the  northern  Codomannus  probably  entered  when 
wall  are  best  preserved.  fleeing  before  Alexander. 

2  It  is  also  marked  D  and  is  near  the  6  Ker  Porter's  inference  is  borne  out 
tomb  of  the  Imam  Abdullah  in  the  by  Yakut,  pp.  277,  617,  who  cites  older 
southwest  part  of  the  plan.  authorities  also  to  the  effect  that  the 

8  With  these  remarks   on   the  en-  citadel,  where  the  Khalif  resided  dur- 

trances  it  is  interesting  to  compare  the  ing  his  stay  at  Rei,   dominates    the 

notes  on  the  city  gates  made  by  the  grand  mosque  of  Mahdi  and  the  palace 

Mohammedan  writers   quoted  above,  of  the  governor.     Both  of  these  build- 

whose  statements  antedate  Ker  Porter  ings,  together  with  the    city  prison, 

by  nearly  a  thousand  years.  were  situated  in  the  '  exterior  city,'  or 


\ 


KER  PORTER'S  PLAN  OF  REI 


TOWER  ON  A  HILL  NEAR  REI 


r  2 


THE   MASSIVE   RAMPARTS  435 

wall,1  exterior  to  the  city-rampart,  connects  the  height  on  which 
the  first  great  citadel  stands,  with  another  rocky  projection  of  the 
mountain,  where  every  tenable  spot  has  been  strongly  guarded  by 
outworks,2  linking  themselves  across  the  gorge  of  a  deep  ravine  to 
the  side  of  a  third  citadel,  or  fortress,  finely  built  of  stone  and  on 
the  summit  of  an  immense  rock  which  commands  the  open  country 
to  the  south/ 3 

Some  idea  of  the  size  and  sweep  of  the  massive  ramparts 
may  be  gathered  from  my  photographs.  In  several  places  the 
moldering  walls  are  fully  fifty  feet  high,  and  the  sun-dried 
bricks  which  composed  them  can  still  be  seen  plainly  in  outline, 
and  they  reminded  me  of  the  bricks  used  in  the  old  Zoroastrian 
fire-temple  near  Isfahan,  although  somewhat  larger,  since 
some  of  the  specimens  measured  17  by  7  inches  (44  by  18  cm.) 
along  the  face.4  I  was  afterward  told  in  Teheran  that  they 
are  known  as  l  Gabar  bricks,'  a  designation  that  would  seem 
to  confirm  my  impression  of  their  antiquity. 

Everywhere  about  the  walls  and  within  the  desolate  area 
that  once  formed  the  city  there  are  scattered  fragments  of 
pottery  and  shards  of  earthenware.  Several  of  the  pieces 
closely  resembled  the  bits  of  a  rough  yellow  jar  I  had  picked 
up  on  the  hillside  of  the  Atash  Gah  near  Isfahan  and 
probably  dated  from  the  same  period.5  I  found  also  a  few 
specimens  of  finer  ceramic  art  which  showed  the  exquisite 
lustre  or  glint  known  to  porcelain-connoisseurs  as  the  reflet 
metallique,  and  I  added  them  to  my  collection  of  mementos. 
The  natives  are  aware  of  the  value  of  these  curios,  and  they 
treasure  up  for  sale  the  more  artistic  specimens  unearthed  in 
digging  new  wells  or  restoring  the  old  canals  that  still  run 
from  the  active  stream  which  flows  through  Rei  to  restore  life 

suburb,  of  Mohammadiah  (Yakut,  pp.  the  tower  F  in  the  plan.  A  photograph 
277,  517).  of  the  tower  F  may  be  seen  in  Curzon, 

1  This  wall  is  shown  by  the  curved     Persia,  1.  351. 

line  running  from  the  citadel  A  toward          3  The  position  of  the  fortress  is  in- 

F  in  the  plan.  dicated  by  G  in  the  plan. 

2  The  outworks    are  indicated   by          4  See  pp.  253,  255,  above, 
circles  running  from  the  hill  toward          6  Cf.  p.  253,  above. 


436  RUINS   OF  RE  I,   THE  ANCIENT  RAG  HA 

to   the   gardens   within    and   without   its   otherwise    desolate 
j  walls. 

Within  the  compass  of  the  ancient  city,  and  nearly  midway 
between  the  citadel  and  the  central  point,  there  rises  a  high 
brick  tower  which  the  natives  say  is  4  old '  (kadlm),  but  whose 
claim  to  antiquity  cannot  exceed  a  thousand  years.1  Some 
writers  have  supposed  it  to  be  the  burial-place  of  the  grandson 
of  Tamerlane,  Khalil  Sultan,  and  his  beloved  consort,  Shad  al- 
Malik,  '  Joy  of  the  King,'  in  the  fifteenth  century ;  others 
ascribe  it  to  a  date  four  centuries  earlier  and  see  in  it  the 
mausoleum  of  Tughral  Beg,  who  died  A.D.  1063.  I  am 
not  yet  prepared  to  pronounce  judgment  as  to  which  view 
may  be  nearer  the  truth.2  I  can  only  say  that  the  tower  is  not 
mentioned  in  Istakhri,  Ibn  Haukal,  or  Yakut,  and  that  it  re- 
minded me  of  two  similar  towers  I  had  seen  in  Hamadan.3 

This  structure,  cylindrical  in  form,  but  corrugated  in  outline 
because  of  its  many  angles,  rises  to  a  height  of  about  seventy 
feet,  is  fully  forty  feet  in  diameter,  hollow  within,  and  open  at 
the  top.  The  arrangement  of  the  bricks  of  the  outer  casing  is 
such  that  they  form  a  succession  of  huge  perpendicular  prisms, 
some  twenty  in  number,  and  the  cement  is  curiously  indented 
in  a  honeycomb  fashion,  attention  to  which  was  called  years 
ago  by  a  Presbyterian  missionary  from  the  United  States,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  Perkins,  in  an  unpublished  letter  to  the  Amer- 
ican Oriental  Society.  A  paragraph  in  his  '  Diary  of  a 
Visit  to  Teheran,  the  Capital  of  Persia,'  dated  Dec.  2,  1845, 
on  p.  58  of  the  manuscript,  briefly  describes  the  tower  and 
concludes  as  follows  :  4  Another  peculiarity  which  I  noticed 
is,  that  the  mortar  in  the  interstices  between  the  ends  of  the 
bricks  is  curiously  indented  and  wrought  into  honeycomb  sec- 
tions, which  imparts  to  the  whole  an  exquisite  delicacy,  con- 

1  The  position  of  this  tower  (which  is  of  the  tower,  which  was  taken  before 

roughly  indicated  by  E  in  Ker  Porter's  the  structure  was  restored, 
plan)  may  be  seen   from  the  photo-  2  For    the    views,    see    Benjamin, 

graph    that    I   have    reproduced.      I  Persia,  1.  59 ;  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  350. 
have  added  also  an  older  photograph  8  See  p.  162,  above. 


> 


TOWER   AMONG  THE  RuiNS  OF  REI,   AFTER  RESTORATION 


TOWER  AMONG  THE   RUINS   OF  REI,   BEFORE  RESTORATION 


AN  ANCIENT  BRICK  TOWER  437 

nected  with  durability.'1  The  entrance  to  the  tower  i& 
through  a  high,  arched  doorway  surrounded  by  a  square  portal, 
as  will  be  seen  in  a  photograph  that  was  taken  before  the  two 
were  restored,  some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago.  The  picture 
shows  why  the  Kufic  inscription,  which  Ker  Porter  says  en- 
circled the  top,  has  disappeared,  no  attempt  being  made  to 
restore  it  when  the  new  cornice  was  added.  Care,  however,  was 
taken  to  develop  a  garden  around  the  tower  and  to  plant  nu- 
merous kalam  trees,  whose  slender  and  straight  lines  harmonize 
admirably  with  the  perpendicular  outlines  of  the  structure. 

An  ascent  to  the  summit  of  the  edifice  is  worth  making,  as 
the  view  of  Rei  from  its  top  is  one  of  the  best  that  can  be  ob- 
tained. Far  to  the  north  is  se*en  the  lofty  crest  of  Damavand. 
In  the  near  foreground  the  broken  outline  of  the  northern  wall 
of  ancient  Ragha  may  easily  be  traced  from  east  to  west. 
As  one  looks  toward  the  hills  on  the  northeast,  the  Gabar 
Dakhmah,  or  Tower  of  Silence,  appears  like  a  white  speck 
against  a  rocky  background,  while  on  another  hill  to  the  east 
is  a  small  tower  ('old  Gabar,'  the  guide  suggested),  and 
again  somewhat  beyond  it  to  the  east-southeast  rise  the  walls 
of  an  elevated  fortress.  Far  to  the  southeast  and  south,  one 
notices  on  the  plain  a  series  of  mounds  of  earth  and  elevations 
that  are  said  to  be  a  farsakh's  distance  apart  and  are  explained 
(for  lack  of  a  better  interpretation)  as  '  signal  towers '  for  pil- 
grims making  the  journey  to  and  from  Kerbela.  To  the  south 
and  southwest,  in  the  nearer  foreground,  the  hamlet  of  Shah 
Abdul  Azim  nestles  amid  green  trees,  and  the  western  line  of 
Rei  is  skirted  by  the  railway  that  approaches  the  shrine. 

While  resting  and  taking  luncheon  near  the  gateway  that 
forms  the  entrance  to  the  tower  garden,  we  had  a  chance  to 
converse  with  the  natives  and  to  ask  them  some  questions  to 
see  whether  they  knew  anything  of  Zoroaster  or  were  even 
acquainted  with  his  name  as  Zardusht  in  Modern  Persian.  In 

1  This  honeycomb  effect  in  plaster  hammedan  architecture  of  Merv,  Bo- 
is  familiar  in  a  larger  way  in  the  Mo-  khara,  and  Samarkand. 


438  RUINS   OF  RE  I,    THE  ANCIENT  RAG  HA 

answer  to  the  inquiry  as  to  who  was  the  prophet  of  the  Gabars, 
two  of  the  Mohammedans  with  whom  we  spoke  replied, 
wholly  independently  of  each  other,  'that  4  the  prophet  of  the 
Fire-Worshippers  was  Ibrahim,'  that  is,  Abraham.  This  re- 
sponse is  of  interest  because  of  the  frequent  association  of 
Zoroaster  with  Abraham  by  the  Moslems.1  Somewhat  later 
there  came  along  a  bright-faced  young  Mullah  wearing  a  white 
turban ;  on  being  interrogated,  he  promptly  replied  :  '  Zardusht 
was  the  prophet  of  the  Gabars  and  lived  about  six  thousand 
years  ago  ;  to  find  out  more  about  him,  one  must  consult  the 
Gabar  books,  for  the  Gabars  have  books.'2 

Although  there  would  have  been  time  for  a  special  visit  to 
the  Shrine  of  Shah  Abdul  Azim,  I  decided  rather  to  devote  it 
to  continuing  my  survey  of  the  ancient  ruins.  Returning 
to  the  upper  section  of  Rei,  I  first  examined  a  sculpture,  carved 
in  a  space  something  less  than  ten  feet  by  twenty,  on  a  rock  to 
the  east  of  the  ancient  citadel.  It  has  something  of  a  history, 
as  the  rock  is  really  a  palimpsest,  an  old  carving  having  been 
chiselled  away  in  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  to 
give  place  to  a  new  one.  In  its  present  form  the  monument 
represents  Fath  Ali  Shah  in  the  act  of  spearing  a  lion,  and  has 
little,  if  any,  historic  value.  The  old  sculpture  which  the  mon- 
arch caused  to  be  obliterated  in  order  to  afford  a  space  for 
his  own  picture  was  really  a  historic  one  and  dated  back  to 
Sasanian  times.  Fortunately  it  had  been  sketched  by  Morier 
(1809),  W.  Price  (1811),  and  Sir  William  Ouseley  (1811-1812), 
and  described  also  by  Ker  Porter  (1818),  so  that  it  has  not 
been  lost  entirely,  and  I  reproduce  here  the  drawing  by 
Ouseley,  because  of  its  archaeological  interest.8  The  sculpture 

1  See  p.  404,  above,  and  my  Zoro-  8  Sir  W.  Ouseley,  Travels,  3.  plate 
aster,  p.  157  ;  cf.  also  Hyde,   Historia  65;  compare  also  Morier,  Second  Jo ur- 
Religionis     Veterum     Persarum,   pp.  ney,  2.  190,  London,  1818 ;  W.  Price, 
28-31,  Oxford,  1700.  Journal  of  the  British  Embassy  to  Per- 

2  The  Moslems  always  lay  stress  on  sia,  p.  37,  2d  ed.,  London,  1832  ;  Ker 
any  religion  that  has  books,  even  if  Porter,  Travels,  1.  363;  and  seethe  re- 
they  despise  the  believers  as  infidels.  marks  by  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  frTl-frV?. 


SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  NOW  DESTROYED 
(From  the  drawing  of  Sir  William  Ouseley) 


MODERN  BAS-RELIEF  REPLACING  THE  SCULPTURE  SHOWN  ABOVE 


AN   OBLITERATED   SASANIAN  SCULPTURE  439 

represented  a  mounted  warrior  charging  at  full  speed  with  a 
couched  spear  against  an  antagonist,  the  head  of  whose  hor> 
was  roughly  indicated  in  outline  on  the  stone.  The  figure 
with  the  spear  was  undoubtedly  a  Sasanian  king,  as  was  shown 
by  the  balloon-like  head-gear  and  other  typical  accoutrements 
of  Sasanian  times,  but  we  no  longer  know  which  particular 
monarch  may  have  been  intended.  Ker  Porter  thought  it 
probable  that  Ardashir,  the  founder  of  the  dynasty,  was  the 
hero,  and  that  the  combat  was  against  the  last  of  the  Parthians ; 
Sir  William  Ouseley,  on  the  contrary,  was  inclined  rather  to 
attribute  it  to  Ardashir's  son  Shahpur,  but  both  scholars  were  of 
the  opinion  that  the  entire  sculpture  had  never  been  finished. 
We  can  but  regret  that  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  solve  such  a 
problem,  and  we  must  deplore  the  destructive  zeal  of  Fath  Ali 
Shah,  which  has  robbed  us  of  a  monument  of  antiquity. 

The  sculptural  activity  of  Fath  Ali  Shah  was  not  confined, 
however,  to  making  palimpsest  records;  he  has  left  us  another 
carving  which  is  chiselled  on  a  huge  panel  that  was  specially 
prepared  for  the  purpose  on  the  face  of  the  volcanic  rock 
overhanging  the  waters  of  the  holy  and  much  frequented 
Chashmah-i  Ali,  or  4  Spring  of  Ali.'  The  sculpture  represents 
the  long-bearded  monarch  seated  upon  his  throne,  surrounded 
by  his  sons  and  vizirs,  in  the  same  manner  that  he  is  portrayed 
in  the  painting  on  the  walls  of  the  picture-gallery  of  the  Naga- 
ristan  in  Teheran.1 

Riding  some  distance  beyond  the  intrenchments  of  Rei 
toward  a  spur  of  the  mountains  that  surround  the  ruins  on  the 
easterly  and  northeasterly  side,  I  ascended  the  barren  hill  on 
whose  rocky  side  stands  the  old  Zoroastrian  Tower  of  Silence. 
Because  of  the  historic  association  of  Ragha  with  the  Zoroas- 
trian religion,  it  is  probable  that  this  dakhmah  is  located  on 
one  of  the  oldest  known  sites  for  a  Tower  of  Silence,  and  its 
situation  fulfils  all  the  requirements  of  the  Vendidad  canon, 
which  enjoins  that  the  dakhmah  shall  be  placed  on  a  hill,  far 
1  For  a  reproduction  of  the  Nagaristan  paintings,  see  Curzon,  Persia,  1.  338. 


440  RUINS   OF  RE  I,    THE   ANCIENT  RAG  HA 

from  human  habitations,  but  accessible  to  4  the  corpse-eating 
«r-dogs  and  birds.'  The  location  recalled  that  of  the  dakhmah 
at  A j mere  in  India,  and  the  structure  resembled  the  Parsi 
Towers  of  Silence  at  Bombay  in  being  round  in  shape,  about 
thirty  feet  in  height,  and  covered  with  a  cement  which  gives 
it  the  whitish  color  noticeable  in  the  Bombay  towers.1  It 
was  repaired  some  years  ago,  as  were  the  dakhmahs  at  Yezd, 
through  an  expenditure  of.  funds  supplied  by  the  Parsis  of  India 
for  the  amelioration  of  the  Zoroastrians  in  Persia.2  Unlike 
the  Bombay  towers,  it  has  no  door,  because,  as  the  Zoroastrians 
in  Teheran  told  me,  they  are  afraid  that  the  Mohammedans 
may  desecrate  the  place.  The  corpse  is  lifted  over  the  wall  by 
means  of  ladders  and  ropes  or  a  chain,  as  I  learned  from  the 
Rev.  L.  F.  Esselstyn,  a  missionary,  who  had  helped  to  lift  into 
it  the  dead  body  of  one  of  his  servants,  who  was  a  Zoroastrian. 

I  ascended  higher  up  the  hill  to  a  point  where  I  could 
see  the  interior  of  the  tower.  The  pdvis,  or  receptacles  for 
the  bodies,  were  arranged  after  a  rectangular  method  and 
not  radiated  in  the  wheel-like  fashion  of  the  Parsi  dakhmahs. 
I  could  see  no  bhanddr,  or  central  pit,  in  which  to  deposit  the 
skeleton  after  the  flesh  had  been  stripped  from  the  bones,  but 
I  was  told  by  those  who  had  been  inside  the  dakhmah  that 
there  was  a  place  to  which  a  few  steps  led  down,  and  this  might 
have  served  as  an  astoddn^  or  repository  for  the  bones.  The 
whole  arrangement  appeared  to  me  rather  primitive  and  less 
systematic  and  up-to-date  than  in  the  Bombay  Towers  of 
Silence.  I  may  add  that  there  was  no  evidence  anywhere  of 
a  sagri,  or  shrine,  for  a  perpetual  lamp  to  burn  near  the  place 
of  the  dead. 

As  we  galloped  homeward  toward  Teheran,  the  sun  began 
to  cast  long  shadows  from  Mount  Damavand,  the  great  peak 
of  Alborz,  the  Avestan  Kara  Berezaiti,  whose  snowy  cap  and 
frowning  front  loomed  skyward  to  the  height  of  nearly  twenty 

1  See  the  accompanying  photograph  of  this  dakhmah  given  above,  p.  403. 
of  the  tower  and  also  the  distant  view  *  See  p.  397,  above. 


SCULPTURED  PANEL  OF  FATH  ALI  SHAH,  ABOVE  THE  '  SPRING  OF  ALI 


THE  ZOROASTRIAN  TOWER  OF  SILENCE  AT  REI 


V 


THE  DAKHMAH  AT  REI  441 

thousand  feet.  No  wonder  it  looked  sullen  at  its  ceaseless  task 
in  crushing  beneath  its  ponderous  bulk  for  ages,  as  legends  tell, 
the  giant  monster  Zohak,  or  Azhi  Dahaka,  lest  he  escape  from 
his  chains  and  tyrannize  the  world.  Only  in  the  eleventh  millen- 
nium will  the  mountain  be  relieved  from  duty,  for  then  the 
hero  Sama  Keresaspa  will  waken  from  his  sleep,  slay  Zohak, 
and  usher  in  the  dawn  of  a  new  era. 

But  soon  we  were  entering  the  gates  of  the  capital,  and  my 
thoughts  were  turned  from  ancient  legends  and  ancient  ruins 
to  themes  of  the  present. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 
THROUGH  MAZANDARAN   TO   THE  CASPIAN  SEA 

'  To  the  sea-shore  he  gan  his  way  apply, 
To  weete  if  shipping  readie  he  mote  there  descry.' 

—  SPENSER,  Faerie  Queene,  5.  12.  3. 

I  HAD  been  a  week  in  Teheran  and  had  especially  enjoyed 
my  visit  because  I  had  accomplished  most  of  the  immediate 
purposes  I  had  in  view.  Though  loath  to  depart,  I  found  the 
time  demanded  my  leaving  if  I  were  to  carry  out  my  plans  for 
visiting  Central  Asia.  The  official  calls  had  been  made,  and 
the  requisite  papers  obtained  from  governmental  sources  to  en- 
able me  to  travel  freely  in  Transcaspia  and  Turkistan;  the  adieus 
to  my  friends  had  been  said  ;  and  the  minor  arrangements  for 
the  journey  had  been  completed.  Yet  to  say  farewell  to  Persia 
without  delays  is  always  impossible,  and  although  the  carriage, 
horses,  and  driver  were  at  the  door,  it  took  an  endless  amount 
of  time  and  ado  before  the  baggage  was  lashed  to  the  wagon 
and  the  start  made  for  the  Caspian  Sea  which  we  hoped  to 
reach  on  the  second  day  —  intkallah,  4  God  willing  ! ' 

Another  hour  had  elapsed  before  we  came  to  the  outer  post- 
station  of  the  city,  near  the  Kazvin  gate.  A  long  delay  oc- 
curred here  to  remind  me  again  that  we  were  still  in  Persia. 
Each  piece  of  luggage  had  to  be  taken  off  the  rickety  vehicle, 
weighed  with  a  precision  that  could  come  only  from  a  desire 
to  exact  the  utmost  shdhi  for  every  ounce  of  baggage  and 
extract  an  additional  bakhshish,  and  then  the  packages  were 
slowly  lashed  in  place  again  upon  the  conveyance. 

The  fare  and  toll  rate  for  this  uncomfortable  journey  of  some 
240  miles  in  a  rattle-bang  old  brougham  was  about  70  tomans 
(dollars),  a  sum  that  seemed  exorbitant  considering  the  dis- 

442 


THE  KAZVIN  GATE,  TEHERAN 


THE  MEIDAN-I  MASHK,  DRILL  SQUARE,  AT  TEHERAN 


KAZV1N  443 

comforts,  but  I  was  promised  a  prompt  and  safe  arrival  (again 
inshdllah),  and  away  we  started. 

The  road  was  the  best  I  had  seen  in  Persia,  because  built 
and  managed  by  the  Russians,  and  it  was  therefore  marked  off 
in  versts,  not  farsakhs,  as  a  measure  of  distance.  The  weather 
was  warm,  as  it  was  the  end  of  May  ;  the  way  was  hot  and 
dusty ;  and  the  plain  flat  and  uninteresting.  Nothing  special 
engaged  my  attention  until  we  came  to  the  river  Karaj.  This 
active  stream  rushes  out  from  a  deep  gorge  in  the  mountains, 
with  high  precipitous  banks  that  recalled  to  my  mind  the  sug- 
gestion I  had  heard  from  the  Gabars  in  Yezd,  that  the  Karaj 
might  be  the  Darejya  of  the  Avesta.1  I  photographed  the 
scene  to  fix  it  firmly  in  my  memory,  but  I  felt  no  more  con- 
vinced of  the  accuracy  of  the  suggested  identification  than  I 
did  when  the  Zoroastrians  proposed  it  to  me.  Without  halt- 
ing longer  we  proceeded  again  and  travelled  all  through  the 
night,  jolting,  lurching,  lunging  in  our  cramped  vehicle,  which 
stopped  at  irregular  intervals  for  fresh  relays  of  horses,  until 
we  rumbled  into  Kazvin  shortly  before  eight  the  next  morning 
after  a  tour  of  nearly  twenty  hours. 

Kazvin  was  once  one  of  the  most  important  cities  of  northern 
Persia  and  was  sufficiently  well  known  in  England  in  Milton's 
day  to  be  mentioned  in  Paradise  Lost.2  The  city's  long  history 
is  said  to  have  begun  in  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  when  it  was 
founded  by  the  Sasanian  King  Shahpur  II.  Four  centuries 
later  Harun  al-Rashid  showed  it  distinguished  marks  of  favor, 
and  so  far  had  Kazvin  advanced  by  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century  that  Yakut,  in  his  Arab  geography,  devotes 
several  pages  to  the  town.  In  the  sixteenth  century  it  became, 
for  the  first  time,  an  imperial  city,  as  Shah  Tahmasp  I  then 
made  it  his  chosen  residence;  but  Isfahan  and  Teheran  in  turn 
supplanted  it  as  the  nation's  capital,  so  that  Kazvin  is  no  longer 
a  city  of  the  first  rank,  although  the  number  of  its  inhabitants 
is  variously  estimated  from  50,000  to  100,000  persons. 

1  See  p.  360,  above.  2  See  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  10.  435. 


444    THROUGH  MAZANDARAN  TO  THE  CASPIAN  SEA 

Despite  its  level  and  unimposing  situation,  Kazvin  makes  a 
pleasant  impression  upon  the  eye  because  the  main  avenue 
leading  through  the  city  to  the  Governor's  Palace  is  richly 
lined  on  either  side  with  shade-trees.  The  principal  inn, 
mahmdn-khdnah,  at  the  other  end  of  this  boulevard,  is  the  best 
of  its  kind  in  all  Persia  and  has  spacious  quarters  for  fairly 
comfortable  lodging  and  ample  accommodations  for  numerous 
relays  of  post-horses,  but  it  does  not  possess  sufficient  attraction 
to  induce  the  stranger  to  prolong  his  stay  more  than  is  necessary. 
The  rows  of  single-storied  bazaars  on  the  main  streets  gave  me 
the  impression  of  being  reasonably  prosperous,  and  in  one  of 
the  semi-European  shops  I  replenished  my  supply  of  certain 
necessaries  for  the  voyage  which  one  best  knows  how  to  appre- 
ciate after  long  travel  in  Persia.  I  was  not  sorry,  however, 
when  the  time  came  to  resume  the  journey  toward  the  Cas- 
pian, although  I  should  have  liked  to  visit  the  mosque  which 
was  originally  built  by  Harun  al-Rashid.1  I  also  regret  that 
I  did  not  know  at  the  time  that  the  distant  hills  that  I  saw 
rising  back  of  Kazvin  were  once  the  stronghold  of  the  Sheikh 
al-Jabal,  4  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains,'  the  head  of  the  Assassin 
Band  in  the  twelfth  century,  for  I  am  sure  I  should  have  noted 
the  outline  of  these  hills  more  closely  than  I  did  and  should 
have  sought  for  local  legends  regarding  the  picturesque  though 
villanous  outlaws  whose  name,  hashshdshin, 4  hashish-eaters,'  cor- 
rupted by  Europeans  into  assassin,  has  become  synonymous 
with  murderer. 

The  next  stages  of  the  journey  were  devoted  to  sleeping  as 
best  I  could  in  the  uncomfortable  conveyance,  but  I  awoke  in 
time  to  enjoy  the  grand  mountain  scenery  of  the  Kharzan  Pass. 
This  lofty  roadway  crosses  the  Alborz  range  at  a  height  of 
seven  thousand  feet,  or  more,  above  the  Caspian,  and  in  winter 
it  is  one  of  the  bleakest  and  most  desolate  places  in  all  Persia,  a 
pathway  of  death  where  many  a  beast  of  burden  falls  by  the 
way.  The  descent  to  the  village  of  Peichanar  was  slow  and 

1  See  Yakut,  p.  443. 


THE  MAHMAN-KHANAH  AT  KAZVIN 


THE  RIVER  KARAJ 


OF  THF 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


FROM  KAZVIN   TO  ENZALI  445 

winding.  The  entire  region  interested  me  because  it  lay  on 
the  borders  of  Mazandaran,  the  abode  of  the  Mdzainya  Daevas, 
4  Demons  of  Mazandaran,'  in  the  Avesta,  and  I  confess  that 
some  of  the  natives  of  the  rude  villages  looked  like  the  veritable 
dlvs,  4  devils,'  of  Firdausi's  Shah  Namah. 

Early  on  the  second  morning  we  crossed  the  Safid  Rud,  liter- 
ally 'White  River,'  which  I  believe  to  be  identical  with  the 
Daitya  River  of  Zoroaster,  and  I  wondered  whether  its  waters 
shimmering  in  the  light  of  sunrise  preserved  any  memory  of 
the  prophet's  glorification  or  of  the  sacrifice  offered  on  its  bank 
by  his  patron  Vishtaspa.1  At  nine  o'clock  we  were  in  Resht,  a 
flourishing  but  unattractive  town  of  possibly  100,000  inhabi- 
tants.2 I  did  not  stay  here  more  than  two  hours  before 
engaging  another  conveyance  to  carry  Safar  and  myself  to 
Piri  Bazaar,  the  landing-place  where  one  hires  a  rowboat  as 
a  transport  to  Enzali,  the  main  port. 

Piri  Bazaar  is  a  filthy  hole,  a  place  where  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  avoid  a  conflict  with  the  shameless  watermen  who 
seem  to  have  all  the  vices  of  dishonesty  and  fraud  that  belong 
to  boatmen  at  insignificant  ports.  Bargains  in  such  cases  are 
usually  treaties  of  peace  after  prolonged  warfare  in  which  the 
foreigner  comes  off  worst,  at  least  in  his  own  estimation.  The 
bags  and  packages  were  finally  bestowed  somewhere  in  the  bow 
or  in  the  stern  of  the  boat,  after  an  extra  bakhshish  had  been  paid 
to  insure  more  careful  handling,  and  we  rowed  and  poled  for 
several  hours  through  the  lagoons  and  river  until  landing  at 
Enzali.  Here  I  spent  two  nights  waiting  for  the  steamer  Con- 
stantin  of  the  Kavkas-Merkur  Line  to  sail,  and  I  enjoyed  the 
company  of  the  British  Consul  at  Isfahan,  Mr.  J.  R.  Preece, 
who  was  on  his  way  to  England  after  a  long  residence  in 
Persia. 

To  reach  the  steamer,  which  lay  several  miles  from  shore, 

1  See  my  Zoroaster,  pp.  40,  42,  45,  49,      of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  oj 
52,  196, 197,  211,  221.  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.S.A. 

2  See  Sixty-seventh  Annual  Report     p.  231,  New  York,  1904. 


446  THROUGH  MAZANDARAN   TO    THE   CASPIAN  SEA 

it  was  necessary  to  embark  in  a  lighter,  a  huge  scow  almost  as 
unseaworthy  as  the  one  in  which  I  had  crossed  the  Persian 
Styx  at  Julfa  on  entering  Iran,  but  much  more  unsafe  because 
of  the  distance  to  be  traversed  and  the  danger  from  the  surf 
and  waves  of  the  Caspian,  which  were  running  high  at  the 
time.  I  could  not  help  thinking  what  an  irony  of  fate  it  would 
be  to  be  lost  in  this  wretched  hulk  of  a  scow  after  climbing 
Behistan  and  going  through  various  hardships  on  the  journey 
now  drawing  to  its  close.  But  all  went  well.  On  board  the 
Constantin  I  found  good  accommodations  and  excellent  com- 
pany, the  Austrian  Minister  and  his  wife  being  among  the 
passengers  on  their  way  from  Teheran  to  Europe.  The  sea 
journey  proceeded  pleasantly. 

But  Persia  all  this  while  was  fading  gradually  from  view. 
The  steamer  called  next  day  at  Astara,  where  I  bade  adieu  to 
my  faithful  Safar,  who  had  served  me  so  well  and  whom  I 
would  gladly,  if  possible,  have  taken  with  me  to  Central  Asia. 
I  felt  certain  it  was  not  easy  for  him,  too,  to  say  good-by.  As 
his  yawl-boat  pushed  off  from  the  steamer's  side  and  headed 
toward  the  shore,  I  could  see  Mount  Ardabil,  where  Zoroaster 
once  preached  the  law,  raising  its  lofty  brow,  no  longer  mitred 
with  snow,  but  turbaned  in  green.  The  color  may  have  been 
emblematic  of  the  change  of  faith  from  Zarathushtra  to  the 
Prophet  of  Islam,  but  perhaps,  like  the  green  bay  tree  that  has 
sprung  from  the  roof  of  the  Tomb  of  Cyrus  at  Pasargadae,  it 
symbolized  the  fact  that  florescence  in  Persia  is  still  possible, 
when  the  season  of  national  greatness  once  again  returns. 

The  wheels  of  the  steamer  began  to  revolve  ;  I  waved  good- 
by  once  more  to  Safar  and  said  a  long  farewell  to  the  Land  of 
the  Sun  as  we  sped  forward  toward  Baku,  whence  I  was  to 
continue  my  journey  into  Central  Asia,  a  description  of  which 
I  shall  give  in  another  volume,  supplemented  by  a  historic 
account  of  Susa  and  of  Eastern  Persia,  which  I  hope  also  to 
visit  at  some  future  time. 


PEICHANAR,  BETWEEN  KAZVIN  AND  RESHT 


ENZALI 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


INDEXES 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Small  superior  numbers  after  the  page-numbers  refer  to  the  footnotes. 

Iranian  words  are  printed  in  italic  type,  and  when  they  are  not  modern  Persian 
the  language  is  indicated. 

In  the  alphabetic  arrangement  of  Arabic  names  the  prefix  al-  has  been  disre- 
garded, but  not  the  elements  Ibn  and  Abu. 


Abadah,  village,  277. 

Abarkuh,  town,  341-4. 

Abbas,  Shah,  27,  37. 

made  Isfahan  capital,  265. 
founded  Julfa,  a  suburb  of  Isfahan, 

270. 

mosques  erected  by,  5,  267. 
mail-coat  of,  422. 

Abbasid  dynasty,  27. 

Abdul  Azim,  Shah,  shrine  of,  428. 

Abdullah,  governor  of  Khorasan, 
destroyed  Zoroastrian  works, 
359. 

ablution  of  nine  nights,  381,  392, 
396. 

Abraham,  legends  of,  342,  343. 
associated    with    Zoroaster,    404, 
438. 

Abu  Ali  ibn  Sina,  tomb  of,  165-7. 

Abu  Dulaf  Misar,  described  Tak-i 
Bostan,  224. 

Abu  Kalanjar  Sultan,  fortified  Shi- 
raz,  325. 

Abu  Said,  tomb  of,  167. 

Abuzai'dabad,  village,  410,  416. 

accipenser  huso,  9. 

Achsemenian  dynasty,  26. 

Achmetha,  Aramaic  form  of  Hama- 
dan, 152. 

Adarian,  Zoroastrian  chapel,  366. 

Adhargushnasp  (Adharakhsh),  fire- 
temple  of,  133-42. 

Aena,  name  of  Anahita,  153. 

aesha  (Av.),  plow,  246. 

Afghans,  invaded  Persia,  27. 

Afrasiab,  conflict  with  Horn  and  Kei 

Khosru,  137-9,  142. 
legend  of  defeat  by  Rustam  and 
Kei  Kaus,  264. 

2o  449 


Agamatanu,    Babylonian    form    of 

Hamadan,  150. 
Agha  Mohammed  Shah,  27. 
sacked  Hamadan,  155,  159. 
razed  the  ramparts  of  Shiraz,  325. 
laid  out  a  garden  at  Shiraz,  327. 
made  Teheran  capital,  419. 
Aghri  Dagh  (Ararat),  17. 
agriculture,    implements    of,   85-6, 

246-8. 

praise  of,  in  the  Avesta,  246,  373. 
Ahmadabad,  122-3. 
Ahmat,  ash-hill  at,  94. 
Ahriman,  63,  363. 
Ahuna  Vairya  stanza,  as  pronounced 

at  Yezd,  365. 

recited  in  the  funeral  rites,  392. 
Ahura  Mazda  (Ormazd),  65-6,  362. 
Zoroaster  converses  with,  62. 
in  the  inscriptions  of  Darius,  181-2. 
represented    on    a    sculpture     at 

Naksh-i  Rajab,  309. 
possibly     represented     at     Tak-i 

Bostan,  220,  225. 
Airyema  Ishyo,  a  prayer,  87. 
Aiwisruthrima    Gdh,  a  time  of  day, 

394. 

Akdah,  village,  402,  403,  415. 
Akhuri,  Akori,  Armenian  village,  17. 
Alborz,  Mount,  58. 
Alexander  the  Great,  at  Ecbatana, 

157,  158. 

vanquished  Darius  III,  26,  319. 
burned  the  archetype  copy  of  the 

Avesta,  306-7. 
legends  of,  5,  163-5. 
Aliabad,  village,  347. 
Allah  ad-Daulah  Garshasp,  Sultan, 

built  mosque  at  Yezd,  350. 
altars,  Achsemenian,  303. 
Alusjird,  river,  147. 


450 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Alvand,  Mount,  146,  147. 
name  of,  146 l. 
inscriptions  on,  170-3. 
blank  niches  on,  173. 
Al-Yalvah,  the  sacred  book  of  the 

Yezidis,  14. 
ambdr,  store,  reservoir,  42. 

epithet  of  Hamadan,  149. 
Amesha  Spentas,  62,  362. 
Amestris,  12. 
Amr  ibn  Leith,  Safarid  ruler,  built  a 

mosque  at  Shiraz,  325. 
Amshaspands,  62,  362. 
amulets,  worn  by  children,  378. 
Anahita,    temple   of,   at   Ecbatana, 

153. 

temple  of,  at  Kangavar,  240-2. 
identified  with  Artemis   (Diana), 

240. 

possible  representation  of,  225. 
recognized  in  inscriptions  of  Ar- 
taxerxes II,  III,  183. 
Anaias,  Anaitis,  names  of  Anahita, 

153. 
Andarz-i  Buzurg  Mihr,  Zoroastrian 

work,  359. 

Andarz-i  Gavdh,  a  formula,  385. 
Angra  Mainyu  (Ahriman),  63,  363. 
animal  sacrifice,  at  Hamadan,  162. 

at  Yezd,  371. 

Anjuman,  Zoroastrian  synod,  376. 
at  Yezd,  meeting  with  the,  356- 

366. 
Antiochus  the  Great,  found  gold  at 

Ecbatana,  154,  158. 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  came  to  Ecba- 
tana, 169. 
Antonius,   Marcus,   besieged  a  fort 

named  Vera,  137. 
Anushiryan    (Chosroes   I),   born   at 

Ardistan,  406. 
moved  the  fire  of  Adhargushnasp, 

134,  135. 

a  work  dedicated  to,  360. 
Apocrypha,  New  Testament,  legends 

of  the  Magi  in,  102-3. 
Old  Testament,  see  Judith,  Tobit. 
aqueducts,  10,  407,  409,  431. 
'arabah,  cart,  248. 
Arabian  Nights,  31. 

No-Ruz  mentioned  in  the,  99. 
Ararat,  Mount,  16-7,  19. 
Aras,  Araxes,  river,  22. 
archaeological  research,  need  of,  at 

Ardistan,  407. 
at  Gulpaigan,  250. 
at  Hamadan,  163. 
at  Kangavar,  238,  242. 
at  Marand,  36. 


at  Persepolis,  318. 
at  Rei,  433. 

around  Lake  Urumiah,  98 l. 
archangels,  Zoroastrian,  62,  362. 
architecture,  28. 

Greek  style  of,  in  the  ruins  at  Kan- 
gavar, 237. 

Ardabil,  town,  53,  139. 
Ardakan,  district,  403. 
Ardashir  I   (Papakan),  represented 
on  Sasanian  sculptures,  81,  220, 
302,  308,  439. 

ardastdna  (OP.),  structure,  315,  407. 
Ardavan,  see  Artaban. 
Ardistan,  town,  406,  416. 
Arezurahe  Griva,  Mount,  124. 
Arguri,  Armenian  village,  17. 
Armenians,  at  Hamadan,  148. 
Arphaxad,     legendary    founder    of 

Hamadan,  152. 
Arrian,     described     the     Tomb     of 

Cyrus,  285. 
art,  Persian,  28,  43. 
Artaban  V,  represented  on  sculpture 

at  Tak-i  Bostan,  220. 
accompanied  by  a  bird  of  victory, 

76 l. 

Artaxerxes  I  (Longimanus),  26. 
reputed  founder  of  the  fire-temple 

near  Isfahan,  259,  260. 
possible  tomb  of,  296-300. 
Artaxerxes  II  (Mnemon),  tomb  of, 

319. 
Artaxerxes  III  (Ochus),  palace  of, 

315. 

tomb  of,  319. 
Artemis,    Anahita   identified    with, 

240. 

Asadabad,  village,  242-3. 
ash-hills,  Zoroastrian,  90-8. 
cut  down  by  natives,  91. 
not  of  volcanic  origin,  93 2. 
good  fields  for  excavation,  98 l. 
at  Ahmat,  94. 
at  Marand,  36,  54. 
near_Sain  Kalah,  121 l. 
Ashirvdd,  a  formula,  385 1. 
Ashnar  Kuh,  mountain  range,  251. 
Asmai',  al-,  mentions  Shiz,  135. 
Asmodeus,  demon,  169. 
Asnavand,     Mount,     ancient     fire- 
temple  on,  139-41. 
believed  to  be  Mount  Sahand,  38, 

53. 

possibly  Mount  Zindan,  141. 
asparagus,  derivation  of  the  word, 

30. 

assassin,  derivation  of  the  word,  444. 
Astara,  town,  446. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


451 


astoddn,  ossuary,  96-7,  440. 
astrologers,  with  Kei  Khosru,  139. 

consulted  at  birth,  378. 
Astyages,  26. 

Atash  Bahram,  at  Yezd,  366. 
Atash  buzurg  kardan,  a  rite,  396. 
Atash    Gahs,    ancient,    at    Naksh-i 

Rustam,  303. 

Atash  Kadah,  near  Isfahan,  342. 
Atash-i  mas  kartvun,  a  rite,  396. 
Atash-Parastan,  274,  413. 
audience-hall  of  Xerxes,  314. 
Auramazda,  see  Ahura  Mazda. 
Aurvant,  see  Alvand. 
Avesta,  the,  form  and  content  of, 
67-9. 

translations  of,  68  *. 

Geldner's  edition  of,  363. 

pronunciation  of,  at  Yezd,  363-5. 

manuscripts  of,  at  Yezd,  358. 

no  manuscripts  of,  at  Shiraz,  337. 

tradition  of  archetype  copies  of, 
68,  306,  307 l. 

chanting  of,  at  Yezd,  367. 

Zoroastrians  of  Yezd  unaware  of 
metre  in  later  parts  of,  365. 

read  by  mobeds  to  cure  disease, 
379. 

references  to  agriculture  in,  246-8. 

references  to  robbers  in,  83 l. 

reference  to  winter  in,  81. 

references  to  conflict  with  Afra- 
siab  in,  1383. 

mentioned  by  Yakut,  343. 

mentioned  by  Kazvini,  134. 
Avicenna,  tomb  of,  165-7. 
Avlabar,  quarter  of  Tiflis,  8. 
awning,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
ayazhdna  paiti-darezdna  (Av.),  sug- 
gested explanation  of,  247. 
Azad    ad-Daulah,     Amir,    built    a 

causeway  near  Shiraz,  321. 
dzdj  (Arabic,  pi.  of  dzaj),  342 l,  351. 
Azar  Kei  van,  religious  teacher,  361. 
Azarbaijan,  province,  winter  in,  71. 

Tabriz  the  main  city  of,  39,  40. 


B 


Bab,   the   (Mirza  Ali  Mohammed), 

48-9,  328. 

BabaTahir,  tomb  of,  167. 
Bab-i  Roshani,  village,  144. 
Babism,  28,  48-50,  375. 
B_actria,  25. 

bad-glr,  wind-tower,  349. 
bdgh,  garden,  327. 
Bagh-i  Shamal,  at  Tabriz,  50. 


bagldr-bagl,  burgomaster,  41. 
Bah-Dlndn,   Zoroastrians,   274. 
Bahram,  see  Varahran. 
bdj-gdh,  custom-house,  243. 
bakers,  punished  for  high  prices,  273. 
bakhshish,  gratuity,  30. 
Baku,  Russian  city,  4. 
bald  khdnah,  upper  room,  109. 
Baladhuri,  al-,  mentions  Urumiah, 

87. 
Balkh,    Zoroaster   associated   with, 

361. 

Band-i  Amir  (Bendemeer) ,  river,  321. 
bandits,  82,  90  S  296,  347. 
Banishun  (Wanishun),  village,  251. 
Banu-i  Fars,  shrine  of,  near  Akdah, 

403. 

baodhi  (Av.),  incense,  370. 
Barashnum  ceremony,  381,  392,  396. 
Barashnum  Gah  at  Yezd,  383. 
Barbaro,    Josafa,    mentions    Ardis- 
tan,  406. 

describes  Kashan,  403,  411. 

visited  Kum,  403. 

mentions  Nam,  405. 

visited  Yezd,  349. 

refers  to  '  Abraini'  near  Yezd,  404. 

itinerary   of,   from   Persepolis  to 

Yezd,  352. 

barsom  (Av.  baresman),  369. 
bas-reliefs,  see  sculptures. 
bast  khdnah,  place  of  refuge,  170. 
baths,  at  Hamadan,  149. 

at  Yezd,  375. 
bazaars,  at  Hamadan,  148. 

at  Isfahan,  267. 

at  Kazvin,  444. 

at  Shiraz,  326. 

at  Tabriz,  44-6. 

at  Tiflis,  8,  10. 

at  Urumiah,  104. 

Sunday  a  special  day  in,  79. 
Bazigrabana,    ancient    toll-station, 

243. 
Behistan  Mountain,  the,  186. 

inscription    of     Darius    on,   177, 
181-4,  192-208. 

sculptures  on,  180-1,  190. 

blank  space  on,  187-90. 

ascents  of,  by  Rawlinson,  178. 

ascent  of,  by  the  author,  191-6. 

Gotarzes  sculpture  at,  209. 

newly    discovered    sculpture    at, 

210-2. 

Belinas,  160. 

Bendemeer  (Band-i  Amir) ,  river,  321 . 
Berosus,  refers  to  the  death  of  Cy- 
rus, 284. 
bhanddr,  pit  in  a  dakhmah,  440. 


^ 


452 


GENERAL    INDEX 


bid,   willow,  327. 

Birasdd,  a  prayer,  381. 

birds,  75,  115. 

birth,    Zoroastrian    ceremonies    at, 

378. 
birthday   observances,    Zoroastrian, 

379. 

Bisitun,  see  Behistan. 
blocks,  stone,  of  the  Tomb  of  Cy- 
rus, 289,  291. 
of     the     platform     at     Meshad-i 

Murghab,  280. 

of  the  platform  near  Puzah,  308. 
on  the  ash-hill  at  Termani,  93. 
boars,  wild,  9. 
boundary  stones,  20. 
brass  rods,  used  in  Zoroastrian  cere- 
monies, 370. 
bread,  Persian,  46,  110. 

in  Zoroastrian  ceremonies,  370. 
bricks,  ancient,  at  Degalah,  92. 
at  Hamadan,  162. 
of  the  fire-temple  near  Isfahan, 

253,  255. 

at  Takht-i  Suleiman,  127. 
in  the  ruins  at  Rei,  435. 
Bridge  of  AH  Verdi  Khan,  at  Isfa- 
han, 269. 
of  Judgment,  in  Zoroastrian  es- 

chatology,  395. 

bridges,  building  of,  a  pious  act,  75. 
buffaloes,  Persian,  5. 
building,   square,   at   Naksh-i   Rus- 

tam,  302. 

bulls,  winged,  at  Persepolis,  313. 
Bundahishn,  68. 

mentions  Lake  Urumiah,  73. 
burial,   in  Achsemenian  times,  305. 
not    practised     by    Zoroastrians 

393. 

butter,  melted,  in  Zoroastrian  cere- 
monies, 371. 

Buzo-daghi,     mountain,     'Cave    of 
Zoroaster'  in,  103. 


Cambyses,  26,  43. 

death  of,  294 l. 
camels,  21,  33,  109. 

sacrifice  of,  162. 

in    connection    with    Zoroaster's 

name,  89,  361. 
caravans,  21. 
caravansarais,  at  Hamadan,  149. 

at  Kermanshah,  232. 
Carduchi,     ancestors      of     present 
Kurds,  89. 


cats,  Persian,  149. 
Caucasian  Museum,  at  Tiflis,  9. 
Caucasus  Mountains,  3-5. 
causeway,   rock-hewn,   near   Pasar- 

gadae,  295. 
caves,  1191,  173 l. 

associated    with    Zoroaster,    103, 

104. 
Cedrenus,  Georgius,  refers  to  Gazaca, 

141-2. 
cemetery,  at  Geog  Tapah,  96. 

in  Hamadan,  147. 

in  Urumiah,  89. 

old  Armenian,  near  Dilman,  79, 

250. 

ceremonies,     Zoroastrian,     general, 
369-71. 

of  purification,  381-3. 

at  birth,  378. 

of  marriage,  385-6. 

of  burial,  387-97. 
Cetrora,  352. 

Chaechasta,  old  name  of  Lake  Uru- 
miah, 73. 

Chahal  Minar,  platform  of  Persepo- 
lis, 310,  314. 

chahdrom,  fourth  day,  395. 
chdi  khdnah,  tea-house,  34. 
charms,  worn  by  children,  378. 
chashm,  asseverative  word,  109. 
Chashmah-i  Ali,  spring  at  Rei,  428. 
Chashmah-i  Malik,  spring  on  Mount 

Alvand,  1461. 

Chaucer,  mentions  Persian  blue,  31. 
Chechast,  old  name  of  Lake  Uru- 
miah, 73. 

chibuk,  pipe  for  smoking,  88. 
China,  relation  of,  to  Persian  art,  28. 
chinar,  sycamore,  327. 
Chinvat  Bridge,  395. 
Chiz,  old  name  of  Lake  Urumiah,  73, 
Chosroes  I,  see  Anushirvan. 
Chosroes  II,  see  Khosru  Parviz. 
chronology  of  Persia,  25-7. 
cistern,  at  Persepolis,  318. 
citadel,  of  Shiraz,  326. 

at  Kangavar,  237. 

at  Persepolis,  311. 

at  Rei,  433. 
clabber,  food,  98. 
clamps,  in  masonry,  280,  289. 
Clavijo,  a    Spaniard,  describes  Rei, 

430. 

Clitus,  death  of,  at  Hamadan,  164. 
coins,  ancient,  20,  54,  92,  163. 

modern,  46. 

cold,  intense,  in  Azerbaijan,  71. 
column,  of  Cyrus,  in  the  Plain  of 
Murghab,  281. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


453 


columns,  at  Kangavar,  239. 
at  Persepolis,  314,  317. 
marble,  near  Kermanshah,  229. 
Contarini,  Ambrogio,  visited  Kashan, 

411. 

couriers,  desert,  348. 
Croesus,    treasures    of,  at   Ganzaca, 

142. 
wealth  of,  conveyed  to  Ecbatana, 

157. 
Ctesias,    refers    to    Ecbatana,    147, 

150,  151. 
describes  the  sepulchre  of  Darius, 

299. 

mentions  the  death  of  Cyrus,  284. 
cuneiform  inscriptions,  see  inscrip- 
tions. 

curfew  signal,  104,  173,  267,  422. 
custom  house,  at  Julfa,  22. 

site  of  an  ancient,  243. 
Cyaxares,  26. 
cylinder,    carved,    found    at    Geog 

Tapah,  94-6. 

Cyrus  the  Great,  career  of,  26,  278. 
tomb  of,  278-93. 
column  of,  in  the  Plain  of   Mur- 

ghab,  281. 

carved  figure  of,  282. 
popular  identification  of,  with  Kei 

Khosru,    279. 
Cyrus  the  Younger,  24. 
Cyrus  (Kura),  river,  8,  10. 


D 

Daevas,  363. 
daevayasna  (Av.),  devil-worshipper, 

12. 

dahah,  tenth  day,  396. 
Daitya,  river,  perhaps  the  Safid  Rud, 

445. 

dditya  gdtu  (Av.),  fire-altar,  303. 
dakhmah, '  structure '  in  general,  342. 
dakhmah,    'Tower   of   Silence/    fu- 
neral procession  to  the,  391. 
ceremonies  at  the,  392-3. 
Dakhmah-i  Darab,  ruin  at  Abarkuh, 

342. 

Dakhmah-i  Gabraha,  ruin  at  Abar- 
kuh, 342. 

dakhmah-i  lashkarl,  dakhmah  for  sol- 
diers, 398. 
dakhmah-i    tan  bah   tan,    individual 

dakhmah,  398. 

dakhmahs,  near  Yezd,  391,  397,  401. 
near  Isfahan,  273. 
at  Rei,  437,  439-40. 
at  Sharafabad,  403. 
possible,  near  Dombanah,  252. 


none  at  Shiraz,  337. 
tradition  of  individual,  398. 
Damavand,  Mount,  420. 
Daraj,  river,  see  Darejya. 
Daralak,  village,  118. 
Dar  al-'Ibadat,  title  of  Yezd,  350. 
Darejya,  river,  probably  the  mod- 
ern Daryai,  361. 
thought  to  be  the  modern  Karaj, 

360,  443. 

Dari  dialect,  385. 

Dar-i  Mihr,  Zoroastrian  chapel,  366. 
Dariah-i  Shahi,  name  of  Lake  Uru- 

miah,  74. 

Darius  I  (Hystaspes),  25,  26. 
executed  Fravarti,  157. 
inscriptions  of,  at  Behistan,  175- 

208. 

Ganj  Namah  inscription  of,  170-3. 
inscription   of,   at   Maghan,   near 

Kerman,  184. 
platform  at  Persepolis  built  by, 

312. 

set  up  inscribed  columns,  303. 
Hall     of     a     Hundred     Columns 

erected  by,  317. 

palace  of,  at  Persepolis,  312,  314. 
portico  of,  at  Persepolis,  317. 
tomb  of,  at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  296- 

300. 
Darius  II  (Nothus),  tomb  of  (?),  at 

Naksh-i  Rustam,  296-300. 
Darius  III  (Codomannus),  26. 

possible  builder  of  the  unfinished 

tomb  at  Persepolis,  319. 
Daryai,    river,    identified   with    the 

ancient  Darejya,  361. 
Dashtapah,  cuneiform  inscription  at, 

1191. 

Dasni,  name  of  the  Yezidis,  10. 
dasturs,  Zoroastrian  priests,  376. 

none  at  Shiraz,  337. 
Dastur-i    Dasturan,  high    priest,  at 

Yezd,  357. 
Degalah,  village,  91. 

ash-hill  at,  91-3. 
Deh-Bid,  village,  277,  340,  352. 
Deh-Shir,  village,  346,  352. 
Deh-Zeresh,  village,  347. 
Deioces,  25. 

supposed   founder   of   Hamadan, 

152. 
sought    seclusion    at    Hamadan, 

158. 
della  Valle,  Pietro,  visited  Stakhr, 

307. 

visited  Kangavar,  236 2. 
visited  Gulpaigan,  249. 
passed  through  Banishun,  251. 


• 


b 


454 


GENERAL    INDEX 


desert,  341,  345,  408-9. 

Diana,  Anahita  identified  with,  240. 

Dilman,  town,  78. 

old  cemetery  near,  79,  250. 
dinar,  a  coin,  335,  431. 
Dinyar  Bahrain,  Kalantar  at  Yezd, 

354-5,  376. 
Diodorus  Siculus,  platform  of  Per- 

sepolis  described  by,  311. 
Behistan  Mountain  mentioned  by, 

177,  189. 

dirham,  a  coin,  431. 
Diz-i  Nipisht,  supposed  archives  at 

Persepolis,  306. 
Dizah-Khalil,  village,  78. 
Dizah-Takiah,  village,  98. 
Dizh-i  Bahman,  139. 
dogs,  Persian,  77. 

for  the  sag-did  ceremony,  78,  388. 
Dombanah,  village,  252. 
draonah,  offering,  370. 
Drejya,  river,  see  Darejya. 
dress,  of  Zoroastrians,  375. 
dualism,  in  Zoroastrianism,  problem 

of,  65,  362. 
Dujako  (Phi.),  possibly  to  be  read 

Ganjako,  1381. 


Ea-bani,   Babylonian   demigod,   95. 
earthquakes,  17,  40. 
Ecbatana,  modern  Hamadan,  150-9. 
ancient  descriptions  of ,  151-4. 
the  Achaemenian  summer  capital, 

158. 

ancient  temples  at,  153,  158. 
Echmiadzin,  church  and  monastery 

of,  19. 
education,  of  Zoroastrians,  379. 

at  Teheran,  427. 

eggs,  in  Zoroastrian  ceremonies,  371. 
Elizabetpol,  Russian  town,  formerly 

Ganjah,  5. 
Elvend,  see  Alvand. 
Enzali,  town,  445. 
Erivan,  Armenian  city,  17-20. 
Erovand,  Armenian  hero,  18. 
Erovant  (Ervand),  Armenian  leader, 

18. 

Esther  and  Mordecai,  tomb  of,  168. 
execution,  modes  of,  96,  157,  272-3. 
Ezekiel,   possible   reference   to   Zo- 
roastrian ceremonies  in,  370. 


Fahraj,  al-,  351. 

fakir,  faklriah,  ascetic,  13. 


farash,  officer,  45. 

Farhad,  legends  of,  84,  188,  226-8. 

Farhang-i  Anjuman-i  Arai   Nasari, 

135.       » 

farsakhs,  402,  405 l. 
Farsl,  Parsi,  274. 
Farsistan  (Persis),  25. 
Farzanah  Bahram  ibn  Farhad,  361. 
Fath  Ali  Shah,  Persian  king,  19,  27. 

bas-reliefs  of,  at  Rei,  438-9. 

buried  at  Kum,  414. 
Fatus,  variant  for  Farhad,  221,  224, 

226 2. 

Feramurz,  19. 
Ferhad,  see  Farhad. 
Feridun,    victory    of,    over    Zohak, 

commemorated,  371. 
Fin,  a  place,  411. 
Firdausi,  Persian  poet,  29. 

on  founding  of  Stakhra,  306. 

on    conflict    with    Afrasiab,    139, 
142. 

on  the  fire-temple  of  Adhargush- 
nasp, 138-9. 

fire-ordeal,  legend  of  a,  343. 
fire-temple,  ruined,  at  Abarkuh,  342. 

of  Adhargushnasp,  133-42. 

legendary,  at  Ardistan,  407. 

ancient,  at  Ecbatana,  153,  158. 

ruined,  near  Isfahan,  253—61. 

ancient,   at    Meshad-i    Murghab, 
281. 

possible  ancient,  at  Naksh-f  Rus- 
tam,  302. 

at  Naubandajan,  302 4. 

ancient,  at  Sain  Kalah,  121*.        / 

legendary,  at  Shiraz,  336. 

now  none  at  Shiraz,  337. 

at  Yezd,  366-70. 
Firuz,  see  Piruz. 
flag,  Persian,  423. 
floods,  near  Lake  Urumiah,  74. 
food,  Persian,  52,  98,  356. 

Zoroastrians  not  allowed  to  sell, 

374. 
Foy,  W.,   conjecture  of,  sustained, 

205-6. 

Franrasyan,  Frasiak,  see  Afrasiab. 
Fravardigan  festival,  396. 
Fravarti,    insurgent,    put   to   death 

by  Darius,  157. 
frogs,  235. 
funeral  rites,  Zoroastrian,  387-97. 

G 

Gabarabad,  deserted  town,  413. 

Gabars,  Zoroastrians  called,  274. 

a  derogatory  term,  274,  373. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


455 


gach,  gypsum,  273,  317 2. 

gada  (Av.),  highwayman,  83 l. 

gahan,  bier,  389. 

Gahan  Srayishn,  a  ceremony,  391. 

Galerius,  Roman  emperor,  possibly 

on  a  Sasanian  sculpture,  81 1. 
Gamasiab,  river,  213. 
Ganj  a,    possibly    ancient    Ganzaca, 

137. 
Ganjabad,  possibly  ancient  Ganzaca, 

137. 

Ganjah,  town,  now  Elizabetpol,  5. 
Ganjah,  Ganjak,  ancient  town,  131- 
138. 

probably  identical  with  Shiz,  136. 

Takht-i  Suleiman  the  site  of,  131. 

wrongly  identified  with  Tabriz,  39. 

ancient  references  to,  131-4. 
Ganj  Namah  inscriptions,  170-3. 
Ganzaca,  form  of  Ganjah,  131,  136. 
gao  hudhah  (Av.),  butter  (?),  370-1. 
gao  jwya  (Av.),  milk  (?),  370-1. 
gaomaeza   (Av.),    bull's  urine,   382, 

387,  388. 
Garbadakan,    older    name   of    Gul- 

paigan,  249. 
gardens,  Persian,  327. 

of  Shiraz,  326-8. 

at  Urumiah,  88. 
gatching,  273. 
gates,  of  Kermanshah,  231. 
Gatha  Ahunavaiti,  chanted   at  fu- 
nerals, 391. 
Gathas,  Zoroastrian  psalms,  68. 

selections  from  the,  65. 
Gaumata  (Smerdis),  26. 
Gaur  Tapah,  near  Dizah  Khalil,  91 '. 
gava  azl  (Av.),  cow,  247. 
gavaza  (Av.),  ox-goad,  247. 
Gaya-maretan,  primal  man,  12. 

legendary  founder  of  Stakhra,  306. 
Gaza,  Gazaka,  form  of  Ganjah,  39, 

131,  136. 

Geldner,  Karl  F.,  2,  363. 
Geog  Tapah,  ash-hill  at,  94. 
Georgia,  ancient,  Tiflis  capital  of,  7. 
ghaslah,  saddle-cloth,  149. 
Ghazan  Khan,  Mongol  ruler,  43. 
Ghaznavid  dynasty,  27. 
gifts,  wedding,  386. 
givah,  a  kind  of  shoe,  192,  247. 
goat,  sacrifice  of  a,  372. 
goatskin  tankards,  322. 
Golden  Fleece,  legend  of  the,  3. 
gomez,  bull's  urine,  382,  387,  388. 
Gotarzes,   Parthian    king,    scupture 

of,  177 4,  209710. 

government,  municipal,  41,  89,  147, 
231. 


graves,  ancient,  94,  96. 

Gregory  the  Illuminator,  founded  the 
monastery  of  Echmiadzin,  19. 

Grotefend,  first  decipherer  of  the 
cuneiform  inscriptions,  176-7. 

Guchi,  village,  83. 

gulab,  rose-water,  30. 

Gulpaigan,  town,  249. 

Gum  Tapah,  near  Tabriz,  not  an  ash- 
hill,  91. 

Gushtasp,  see  Vishtaspa. 


hadish  (OP.),  abode,  314. 

Hafiz,  Persian  poet,  life  of,  328-9. 

works  of,  329-31. 

tomb  of,  at  Shiraz,  331-2. 

praised  the  river  Roknabad,  323. 
Hafiziah,  tomb  of  Hafiz,  331-2. 
Hagmatana,    Old    Persian    form    of 

Hamadan,  150. 
Hajiabad,  village,  252. 
Hajiabad,  near  Sivand,  Pahlavi  in- 
scription at,  296. 

Hajji  Baba  of  Isfahan,  novel,  31. 
hakim,  a  title,  41. 
Hall    of    a    Hundred    Columns,    at 

Persepolis,  317. 
Hamadan,  the  approach  to,  144-6. 

plan  and  population  of,  147-8. 

bazaars  of,  148-9. 

history  of,  150-9. 

name  of,  150. 

the  ancient  Ecbatana,  150. 

the  stone  lion  at,  159-62. 

old  towers  at,  162-3,  173. 

legends  of  Alexander  at,  163-5. 

tomb  of  Ibn  Sina  at,  165-7. 

tomb  of  Baba  Tahir  at,  167. 

tomb  of  Esther  and  Mordecai  at, 
168-9. 

Ganj    Namah    inscriptions    near, 

170-3. 

Hamadhani,     al-,     mentions    Tak-i 
Bostan,  221,  224. 

mentions    Jan j ah    (Ganjah)    and 
Shiz,  134. 

mentions  Kermanshah,  230. 
hamam,  bath,  127,  375. 
hanjamana  (Av.),  assembly,  376. 
Hantaria,  Manakji  Limji,  397. 
haoma  (Av.),  a  plant,  369,  370. 
Haosravah,  Avestan  king,  70 '. 
Harun  al-Rashid,  born  at  Rei,  430. 

favored  Kazvin,  443. 
Hassar,  village,  245. 
Havani  Gah,  a  time  of  day,  394. 


456 


GENERAL    INDEX 


hazarah-i  ab-nyaish,  prayers,  396. 
hazarah-i  atash-nyaish,  prayers,  396. 
hazarah-i  patit,  prayers,  396. 
hazard,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
hazanhan  (Av.),  brigand,  83'. 
Heraclius,     Roman     emperor,    war 

of,  with    Khosru    Par  viz,   135, 

141-2. 

herbeds,  Zoroastrian  priests,  376. 
Herodotus,  12,  43,  52. 

describes  Ecbatana,  151-2. 
mentions  death  of  Cyrus,  284. 
highwaymen,  82,  90 l,  296,  347. 
Hojatabad,  village,  402,  415. 
/idm-plant,  369. 
Hoshang,  traditional  founder  of  Rei, 

429. 
is  said  to  have  enlarged  Stakhra, 

306. 

hospital,  at  Yezd,  377. 
houses,  at  Tabriz,  40. 
hoz,  tank,  173. 

Hulagu  Khan,  Mongol  ruler,  27. 
hunting,  118. 

on  Sasanian  sculpture,  222. 
Husein  Kuh,  cliff  of  Naksh-i  Rus- 

tam,  297. 
Husein,  Shah,  built  a  madrasah  at 

Isfahan,  268. 


Ibn  Haukal,  mentions  Abarkuh,  342. 
mentions  Nakhjavan,  22. 
describes  Rei,  431. 
mentions  Shiraz,  324. 
on  the  age  of  Istakhr,  306. 
mentions  Tiflis,  8. 
describes  Lake  Urumiah,  73. 
on  Kathah  and  Yezd,  351. 
on  a  revelation  of  Zoroaster,  53. 
Ibn   Khordadhbah,   mentions   Uru- 
miah, 87. 
mentions    Janzah    (Ganjah)    and 

Shiz,  134. 

refers  to  the  fire-temple  near  Isfa- 
han, 258. 

Ibn  Rostah,  mentions  Ardistan,  406. 
describes  the  sculptures  at  Tak-i 

Bostan,  224. 
refers    to    the    fire-temple    near 

Isfahan,  259-60. 
mentions  Kermanshah,  230. 
Ibn  Sina,  tomb  of,  165-7. 
iconoclasm,  80,  93,  219,  223. 
Ilahabad,  village,  397. 
Imam  Guli  Mirza,  governor  of  Ker- 
manshah, 229. 


Imamzadahs,  tombs  of,  at  Tabriz,  44. 

shrines  of,  at  Hamadan,  174. 
Infancy,  Gospel  of  the,  103. 
influence  of  Persia  on  English  poe- 
try, 31. 

initiation  into  the  Zoroastrian  com- 
munity, 380. 
inscription,    Sasanian,    near    Hajia- 

bad,  296. 
supposed,  on  the  tomb  of  Cyrus, 

289. 

inscriptions,  in  the  Armenian  ceme- 
tery near  Dilman,  79. 
Modern  Persian,  222,  301. 
inscriptions     of     the     Achaemenian 

kings,  175-7. 
at  Persepolis,  315,  318. 
at  Behistan,  177-208. 
in  the  Plain  of  Murghab,  281.' 
at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  298. 
Ganj  Namah,  on  Mount  Alvand, 

170-3. 

near  Kerman,  184. 
other,  54 2,  1191. 
irrigation,  25,  409,  431. 
Isatichai,  Greek  form  of  Yezd,  348, 

351. 

Isfahan,  description  of,  262-70. 
history  of,  264-5. 
Zoroastrians  at,  274-5. 
Julfa,  a  suburb  of,  270. 
the  ruined  fire-temple  near,  253-6 1 . 
Isfendiar,  said  to  have  built  a  fire- 
temple  at  Ardistan,  407. 
Isidorus  Characenus,  mentions  Kam- 

badene,  230. 

mentions  Kangavar,  236,  241. 
Istakhr,  legendary  founder  of  Sta- 
khra, 306. 

Istakhr  (Stakhr),  294. 
Istakhri,  al-,  mentions  Abarkuh,  341. 
mentions  Ardistan,  406. 
describes  Rei,  430. 
on  Yezd  and  Kathah,  351. 
itinerary  of,  from  Shiraz  to  Yezd, 

352. 
itinerary,  of  the  author  from  Yezd 

to  Teheran,  415-7. 
of  Josafa  Barbaro  from  Persepolis 

to  Yezd,  352. 

of  Istakhri  from  Shiraz  to  Yezd,  352 . 
Izashnah  Gah,  at  Yezd,  369. 


jadid,  convert,  396. 
Jaftah,  village,  415. 
Jagati,  river,  119. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


457 


Jalal  ad-Din  Rumi,  poet,  31. 

Jami,  poet,  31. 

Jamshid,  legendary  king,  25. 

supposed     to     have     completed 

Stakhra,  306. 

No-Ruz  first  celebrated  by,  99. 
ordered  sugar  to  be  made,  100. 
Vara  of,  126. 
winter  of,  81. 
Janjah,    Janzah,    Arabic    forms    of 

Ganjah,  134. 
Jarbadakan,   Arabic  name  of  Gul- 

paigan,  249. 

Jashn-i    Mihrgan,    Zoroastrian    fes- 
tival, 371. 

jazia,  special  tax,  374. 
Jei,  ancient  town  near  Isfahan,  259, 

264. 

Jenghiz  Khan,  Mongol  ruler,  27. 
Jews,  at  Hamadan,  148. 
at  Isfahan,  265. 
at  Teheran,  427. 
not  ordinarily  tolerated  in  Tabriz, 

44. 
could  not  exist  more  than  forty 

days  at  Abarkuh,  344. 
Jiz,  Arabic  form  of  Shiz,  1373. 
John     Katholikos,     Armenian    his- 
torian, 18. 

Jokand,  village,  416. 
Judith,  book  of,  mentions  Rei,  429. 

describes  Ecbatana,  152. 
julep,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
Julfa,  town   on   the   Russian   fron- 
tier, 22-3. 

Julfa,  suburb  of  Isfahan,  265,  270. 
Justinus,  mentions  death  of  Cyrus, 
284. 


K 


Kaabah-i  Zardusht,  square  building 
at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  302. 

kabab,  meat,  111. 

Kabudhan,  name  of  Lake  Urumiah, 
74. 

kadkhuda,  magistrate,  41,  147,  231. 

Kajar  dynasty,  27. 

kalagh,  crow,  76 l. 

Kalah-i  Gabar,  at  Na'in,  405. 

Kalah-i  Rei,  432. 

Kalak,  village,  associated  with  Zoro- 
aster, 360. 

kalam,  poplar,  327,  437. 

kalantar,  burgomaster,  376. 

kalian,  pipe  for  smoking,  51,  88. 

'Kctm  nemoi  zcim,  a  hymn,  293. 

Kambadene,  perhaps  Kermanshah, 
230. 


Kamus,  hero,  from  Kashan,  410. 
kanat,  aqueduct,  407,  409,  431. 
Kangavar,  ruined  temple  at,  237- 

242. 

etymology  of  the  name,  237. 
Kang-diz,  Kanha-daeza,  237. 
Kapauta,  probably  a  name  of  Lake 

Urumiah,  74. 

Karabagh,  mountain,  72,  81,  82. 
kara  masya  (Av.),  a  fish,  9. 
Karaj,  river,  443. 

thought  to  be  the  ancient  Darejya, 

360. 

Karasu,  river,  213,  229. 
Karim   Khan,  governor,  beautified 

Shiraz,  325. 
removed  the  original  slab  from  the 

tomb  of  Hafiz,  332. 
Karmabad,  village,  86. 
Karmasin,  Arabic  form  of  Kerman- 
shah, 224-5,  230. 
hash,  furrow,  369,  392. 
Kashan,  city,  410-3,  416. 
Kashavar,  village,  120. 
Kasimabad  (?),  village,  416. 
Kasr    al-Lasus,    Arabic    name    of 

Kangavar,  238. 

Kasr-i  Shirin,  name  of  Tak-i  Bos- 
tan,  215. 

name  applied  to  Kangavar,  238. 
name  of  ruins  eighty  miles  west  of 

Kermanshah,  215. 
kastra  (Av.),  spade,  247. 
kata  (Av.),  house,  390. 
Kata,   Kathah,   ancient   quarter  of 

Yezd,  351-2. 
Kattu,  village,  352. 
Katus,  possibly  a  form  of  Farhad, 

221,224,  226 2. 
Kavadh,  see  Kobad. 
kdvaya  hvarenah  (Av.),  glory,  292. 
Kavi  Haosravah,  see  Kei  Khosru. 
Kavi    the    blacksmith,    legend    of, 

264. 

Kazvin,  city,  443-4. 
Kazvini,  al-,  mentions  Shiz,  133. 
on  a  revelation  of  Zoroaster,  53. 
mentions  hot  springs  on   Mount 

Savalan,  54. 
Kei  Kaus,   defeated  Afrasiab  near 

Isfahan,  264. 
Kei  Khosru,  mentioned  in  the  Bunda- 

hishn,  140-1. 
popular    identification    of,     with 

Cyrus,  279. 
conflict  of,  with  Afrasiab,  137-9, 

142. 

fire-temple      of      Adhargushnasp 
erected  by,  138. 


458 


GENERAL    INDEX 


temple  called  Kusujah  built  by, 

135. 

exterminated  idolatry,  141 l. 
legendary  fire-ordeal  of,  343. 

Keiomars,  see  Gaya  Maretan. 

Ker  Porter's  description  of  Rei, 
quoted,  433-5. 

Kerman,  inscription  of  Darius  near, 
184. 

Kermanshah,  city,  230-3. 

Khalatabad,  village,  409,  416. 

Khalil  Sultan,  supposed  burial- 
place  of,  436. 

Khan-i  Khorah,  village,  340. 

Khanjast,  scribal  error  for  Chechast, 
138. 

Kharzan  Pass,  444. 

Khatun  Banu,  shrine  of,  near  Ak- 
dah,  403. 

khlsh,  plow,  246. 

Khodabakhsh  Bahram  Ra'is,  352, 
355,  362,  371 3,  373,  378,  383, 
387 l,  389 2,  39 12,  392 2,  395 2, 
396 2,  398,403'. 

Khoi,  village,  82. 

Khomain,  village,  248. 

Khonsar,  town,  251. 

Khor  Khorah,  village,  117. 

Khosrova,  village,  70,  139 5. 

Khosru  (Haosravah),  Avestan  king, 
70. 

Khosru  I,  Armenian  king,  39. 

Khosru  Parviz   (Chosroes  II),  Sasa- 

nian  king,  222. 
war  of,    against    Heraclius,    135, 

141-2. 

sculpture  of,  at  Tak-i  Bostan,  222. 
legends  of,  and  Shirin,  5,  225-8. 
so-called  kitchen  of,  243. 
Khosrova  possibly  named   after, 
70 l. 

khurjtn,  saddle-bag,  149. 

Kirmasin,  Arabic  name  of  Kerman- 
shah, 224-5,  230. 

kit  for  the  journey,  14. 

Kobad  I,  supposed  founder  of  Ker- 
manshah, 230. 

Koh-i  Nuh,  Persian  name  of  Mount 
Ararat,  17. 

Konkobar,  Greek  form  of  Kangavar. 
236-7. 

Koran,  alludes  to  Noah's  ark,  17. 
forbids  image-making,  93. 
forbids  eating  pork,  118. 

kran,  a  coin,  46. 

Ktesias,  see  Ctesias. 

Kuchi  (Guchi),  82-5. 

Kuh  Paro,  mountains,  213. 

Kuh  Rud,  river,  411. 


Kuh-i  Nuh,  Persian  name  of   Mount 

Ararat,  17. 
Kuh-i  Rahmat,  hills  behind  Persepo- 

lis,  310,  319. 
kulah,  cap,  51. 
Kultapah,  village,  144. 
Kum,  city,  414,  417. 
Kura  (Cyrus),  river,  8,  10. 
Kurd  Balah,  village,  252. 
Kurds,  robber  bands  of,  83. 

raid  of,  on  Urumiah  in  1880,  89, 
106. 

now  a  menace,  100. 
kur&i,  brazier,  123. 
kushti,  kustl,  sacred  thread,  381. 

in  funeral  rites,  388,  389. 
Kushtl-bastan,  a  formula,  381. 


Lake  Urumiah,  see  Urumiah,  Lake. 
Lakki,    hill,    composed    'wholly   of 

ashes/ 92 3. 
lamps,  palm-oil,  109. 

castor-oil,  121. 
Leilhahan,  town,  248. 
lemon,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
Una,  jar,  98. 

lion,  stone,  at  Hamadan,  159-62. 
luk  (Phi.),  eagle,  76 '. 


M 


madrasahs,  at  Teheran,  423. 
at  Isfahan,  268. 

mafarashband,  bag,  111. 

Mafarrukhi,  al-,  mentions  the  fire- 
temple  near  Isfahan,  260. 

Maghan,   inscription   of   Darius   at, 
184. 

Magi,  12,  43. 

house  of  the,  near  the  tomb  of 

Cyrus,  288. 
legends  of  the,  102-3,  412-3. 

Mahallah-i   Pusht-i  Khan(ah)-i  Ali, 
at  Yezd,  372. 

Mahdi,  al-,  completed  the  walls  of 
Rei,  432. 

Mahmadyar,  village,  116. 

mahman-khanah,  inn,  414,  444. 

Mahmud    Shah    Bahmani,    invited 
Hafiz  to  his  court,  329. 

Maibud,  village,  351,  402,  415. 

Maidhyoi-maonha,    cousin    of    Zo- 
roaster, 117. 

Majidi  Sultana,  vice-governor,  100. 

Makdasi,  al-,  see  Mokaddasi. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


459 


Malik   Taus,   Yezidi   name   for  the 

devil,  11-13. 

Mamikonians,  founders  of  a  ceme- 
tery near  Dilman,  79. 
man,  a  weight,  359. 
Manichaeism,  13,  28. 
manuscripts,  Armenian,  at  Echmiad- 
zin, 19. 

Avestan,  at  Yezd,  358. 
Avestan,  none  at  Shiraz,  337. 
of  Saadi  in  his  tomb,  333. 
Marabin,   ancient  village   and   fire- 
temple,  258. 
Maraghah,  court  of  Hulagu  Khan  at, 

27. 

distance  from  Lake  Urumiah,  73 5. 
a  cave  near,  61. 
Marand,  town,  35-6. 
ash-hill  at,  36,  54. 
need  of  archaeological  research  at, 

36. 

Maras,  variant  of  Marabin,  258. 
Marco  Polo,  see  Polo. 
Mardavij  ibn  Ziar  of  Gilan,  stormed 

Hamadan,  159,  160. 
Marg,  village,  276. 
Marin,   variant    form    of    Marabin, 

260. 
marriage,   among  the  Zoroastrians, 

384-6. 

ceremony,  of  the  Yezidis,  13. 
Mashya  and  Mashyoi,  12. 
Masis,  Armenian    name    of    Mount 

Ararat,  16. 

masons'  marks,  129,  188 2,  280. 
mast,  clabber,  98. 

Masudi,    al-,   mentions   Lake   Uru- 
miah, 74. 
mentions  the  sculptures  at  Tak-i 

Bostan,  225. 

refers  to  the  fire-temple  near  Isfa- 
han, 258. 

matbakh,  kitchen,  243. 
Mauricius,  Byzantine  emperor,  Shi- 

rin  the  daughter  of,  225. 
Mazainya  Daevas,  445. 
Mazandaran,  devil-worship  in,  12. 
Mazishvant,   mountain,   possibly 

Ararat,  16. 

Mazra-i  Kalantari,  village,  403. 
meal,  a  Persian,  52,  98. 

a  Zoroastrian,  at  Yezd,  356. 
Medhyo-mah      (Maidhyoi-maonha), 

cousin  of  Zoroaster,  117. 
Media,  ancient,  25,  419. 
civilization  of,  58-^-9. 
Ecbatana  the  capital  of,  157. 
Medo-Persian  empire,  26. 
Medus  (Polvar),  river,  279,  295,  305. 


Meherdates,    triumph    of    Gotarzes 

over,  209. 

represented  on  the  Gotarzes  sculp- 
ture, 209-10. 

melon,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
Mervdasht,  Plain  of,  295,  306,  321. 
Meshad-i  Murghab,  village,  277,  279, 

340., 
metre  in  the  Younger  Avesta,  Yezd 

Zoroastrians  unaware  of,  365. 
Mian  Bulagh  Mountains,  119. 
Miandoab,  town,  119. 
Mihr,  name  of  a  month  and  day,  371. 
Mihr-i  Iran-davar  (Mithra),  372. 
milk,  in  Zoroastrian  ceremonies,  371. 
mirages,  253,  345, 409. 
Mirkhond,  mentions  a  revelation  of 

Zoroaster,  53. 
Mirza    Ali    Mohammed,    the    Bab, 

48-9,  328. 
Mithra,  worship  of,  28. 

mentioned     in      inscriptions     of 

Artaxerxes  II,  III,  183,  315. 
represented  on  a  sculpture  at  Tak-i 

Bostan,  220. 
burnt-offering  to,  372. 
Mithradates,  see  Meherdates. 
Mithraism,  28. 

mobeds,  Zoroastrian  priests,  376. 
read    from    the  Avesta    to    cure 

disease,  379. 

summoned  at  death,  387. 
with  Kei  Khosru,  139. 
Moghar,  town,  408,  416. 
Mohammadiah,  old  suburb  of  Rei, 

432. 

Mohammed,  recognized  by  the  Yezi- 
dis, 13. 

Mohammed  ibn  Yusuf  Takali, 
founder  or  rebuilder  of  Shiraz, 
324. 

Mohammed  Shah,  27. 
Mohammedan  invasion,  27. 
Mohammedanism,    present    religion 

of  Persia,  28. 

Yezidi  doctrines  influenced  by,  13. 
Mokaddasi,  al-,  mentions  Ardistan, 

406. 

money,  Persian,  46. 
Mongol  rulers,  27. 
Moore,  Thomas,   English  poet,   31, 

58,  66. 

mosques,  at  Elizabetpol,  5. 
at  Erivan,  19. 
at  Hamadan,  174. 
at  Isfahan,  267. 
at  Kangavar,  237. 
at  Kazvin,  444. 
at  Shiraz,  325. 


460 


GENERAL    INDEX 


at  Tabriz,  43-4. 

at  Teheran,  423. 

at  Yezd,  350,  351. 
mulberry  trees,  bark  of,  used  in  Zo- 

roastrian  ceremonies,  370. 
Mullah,  visit  to  a,  101. 
municipal  government,  41,  89,  147, 

231. 

murdah-shur,  corpse-washer,  388. 
Musalla,  suburb  of  Bhiraz,  323. 
Musallah  hill,  at  Ramadan,  146,  147, 

154,  156. 
Mustaufi,  mentions  Ardistan,  407. 

legend  of  Abarkuh  told  by,  344. 

mentions  Kangavar,  239. 

describes  Kashan,  411. 

mentions  Na'in,  405. 

on  the  founding  of  Stakhra,  306. 

describes  Tabriz,  391, 41 1,431,442. 
mutilation,  157,  201,  271-3. 
Muzaffar    ad-Din,     Shah,     revoked 

Zoroastrian  disabilities,  375. 
myazda  (Av.),  oblation,  370. 
Myr,  Yezidi  high  priest,  13. 


N 


na'ib,  108. 

Nai'n,  town,  351,  405,  413,  416. 

Najafabad,  village,  252. 

Nakarah      Khanah,      Band-Tower, 

near  Ramadan,   173. 
at  Isfahan,  267. 
at  Teheran,  422. 
at  Urumiah,  104. 
Nakhichavan,  Nakhjayan,  22. 
Naksh-i  Rajab,  Sasanian  sculptures 
•       at,  308-9. 
Naksh-i  Rustam,  explanation  of  the 

name,  297. 

royal  tombs  at,  296-300. 
inscriptions  of  Darius  at,  298. 
Sasanian  sculptures  at,  300-2. 
square  building  at,  302. 
namad,  felt,  149. 
Namdar,  chief  priest  at  Yezd,  357, 

366. 

nan  (nun},  bread,  46,  111. 
Nanaj,  village,  245. 
nan-i  sangak,  pebble-bread,  46. 
Narses,  Persian  king,  possibly  repre- 
sented on  a  Sasanian  sculpture, 
81 ». 

nasa-khanah,  charnel-house,  390 3. 
nasa-salar,  corpse-bearer,  390 3,  392. 
Nasarabad,  village,  144. 
Nasr  ad-Din',  Shah,  beautified  Te- 
heran, 420. 


abolished  the  special  tax  on  Zo- 
roastrians,  374. 

was  assassinated  at  Rei,  428. 

inscription  of,  222. 
nasu,  corpse,  corruption,  388. 
Naxouana,  Greek    form  of    Nakhi- 
chavan, 22. 

Neistanak,  village,  405,  416. 
Nestorian  church  at  Geog  Tapah,  94. 

church  at  Urumiah,  102. 

influence  on  Yezidi  beliefs,  13. 
Nestorians,  at  Urumiah,  105. 

Gospel    of    the    Infancy    current 

among,  103 2. 

New  Year,  Persian,  see  No-Ruz. 
nightingales,  at  Shiraz,  324. 
Nizami,  Persian  poet,  lived  at  Gan- 
jah,  5. 

legend  of  Farhad  and  Shirin  as 

told  by,  84,  188,  226-8. 
Noah,  legends  about,  17,  18,  22,  36. 
No-Ruz,  New  Year,  time  of,  99. 

origin  of,  99. 

procession  before  the  king  at,  313. 

traditions  and  customs  of,  99. 

calls  at,  100. 

Nu-Gumbaz,  village,  415. 
nujumi,  astrologer,  378. 


O 


Odoric  of  Pordenone,  visited  Yezd, 

349. 

rode  from  Kashan  to  Yezd,  403. 
a   legend   of   the    'Three    Kings' 
told  by,  412. 

Omar  Khayyam,   Ibn   Sina  a  pre- 
cursor of,  166. 

Ommiad  dynasty,  27. 

opium-smoking,  340. 

orange,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 

orchards,  at  Urumiah,  88. 

ordeal  of  fire,  legend  of  an,  343. 

Ormazd,  see  Ahura  Mazda. 

Orontes,  Greek  name  of  Mount  Al- 
vand,  146 l. 


Pa  Nam-i  Stayishn,  a  formula,  381. 

padash,  procession,  389. 

Pahlavi  texts,  the  most  important, 

68. 
paiti  zbarahi  (Av.),  interpretation  of, 

360. 

paitidana,  mouth-covering,  367. 
paivand-boud,  388,  392. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


461 


Paivand-Namah,  a  formula,  385 1. 

pak-shur,  washer,  388. 

palace  of  Darius,  at  Persepolis,  312, 

314. 

of  Xerxes,  at  Persepolis,  316. 
of  Artaxerxes  III,  at  Persepolis, 

315. 

palan,  saddle,  106. 
Pandnamak-i  Vazhorg-Mitro-i  Bukh- 

takan,  Pahlavi  work,  359 2. 
paradise,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
Parsa-karta,  probable  ancient  name 

of  Persepolis,  294. 
Parsis    of    India,    departure    from 

Persia  of  the,  67. 
efforts  of,  in  behalf  of  Zoroastrians 

in  Persia,  379,  397,  399,  440. 
parsish-khanah,     mortuary     chapel, 

390. 

Parthian  dynasty,  26. 
Parthian  sculpture  of  Gotarzes,  209. 
Pasangun,  village,  417. 
Pasargadae,  location  of,  279. 
platform  at,  280. 
square  building  at,  280. 
sculpture  of  Cyrus  at,  282. 
inscribed  column  of  Cyrus  at,  175, 

281. 

tomb  of  Cyrus  at,  283-93. 
pashm,  wool,  388. 
patit  pashlmarii,  repentance,  387. 
pavi,  channel,  369,  440. 
Peichanar,  village,  444. 
perfumes,  in  Zoroastrian  rites,  370. 
Persepolis,  name  of,  294. 

ruins  of  Stakhra  near,  306-7. 

great  platform  of,  310-8. 

Old  Persian  inscriptions  at,  312- 

315,  318-9. 
royal  tombs  at,  319. 
Persian  history,  survey  of,  25. 
literature,  30. 
words  in  English,  29-30. 
Persian  Tales,  fictitious  work,  31. 
Persis  (Persia  proper),  26,  419. 
Petrorvsk,  town,  4. 
Phraaspa,    possibly    Takht-i    Sulei- 
man, 137. 

Phraortes,  Median  ruler,  25. 
Pietro  della  Valle,  see  della  Valle. 
pigeon- towers,  at  Isfahan,  262. 
pipes,  for  smoking,  51,  88. 
Piri  Bazaar,  landing-place,  445. 
Piruz,  Sasanian  king,  fire- temple  near 
Isfahan  assigned  to  the  reign  of, 
261. 
Pishdadians,  legendary  founders  of 

Stakhra,  306. 
plsh-gahan,  pall-bearers,  389. 


platform  of  Persepolis,  310-8. 
at  Kangavar,  238. 
at  Tak-i  Bostan,  228. 
mortuary,    at    Naksh-i    Rustam, 

304. 

near  Puzah,  307. 
Pliny  the  Elder,  mentions  the  tomb 

of  Cyrus,  287. 
plows,  Persian,  85-6,  246. 
Plutarch,    describes    the    tomb    of 

Cyrus,  286. 

describes  the  death  of  Clitus,  164. 

Polo,  Marco,  visited  Yezd,  349,  402. 

relates    a   legend    of    the    'Three 

Kings/  413. 

Polvar  (Medus),  river,  279,  295,  305. 
Polysenus,    mentions   the    death   of 

Cyrus,  284. 

Polybius,  describes  Hamadan,  153-4. 
pomegranate,    in    Zoroastrian   cere- 
monies, 369. 

population  of  Erivan,  17. 
of  Hamadan,  148. 
of  Kermanshah,  231. 
of  Resht,  445. 
of  Tabriz,  40. 
of  Urumiah,  104. 
of  Yezd,  350. 

Portal  of  Xerxes,  at  Persepolis,  313. 
Portico  of  Darius,  at  Persepolis,  317. 
pottery,  found  at  Degalah,   92. 
found  at  Diza-Takiah,  98. 
found  at  Termani,  93. 
found  at  the  ruined  temple  near 

Isfahan,  253. 

fragments  of,  found  at  Rei,  435. 
Prexaspes,  vizir  of  Cambyses,  43. 
priests,  Zoroastrian,  376. 

read  from  the  Avesta  to  cure  dis- 
ease, 379. 

summoned  at  death,  387. 
Prometheus,  legend  of,  3. 
pronunciation  of  Avestan  at  Yezd, 

363-5. 

Ptolemy,    Greek   geographer,    men- 
tions Yezd,  348,  351. 
mentions  Isfahan,  264. 
mentions    Nakhichavan    (Naxou- 

ana),  22. 

punishments,  cruel,  157,  201,  271-3. 
pursl-raftan,  condolence,  391. 
pursish-khanah,     mortuary    chapel, 

390. 
Puzah,  halting-place,  305,  309. 

Q 

Quintus    Curtius    Rufus,    describes 
the  tomb  of  Cyrus,  287. 


462 


GENERAL    INDEX 


R 


racial  types,  4,  25. 

Ragau,  Rages,  Ragha,  ancient  names 

of  Rei,  429. 

rah-zan,  highwayman,  296. 
railroad,  Persia's  only,  429. 
Rais,    Khodabakhsh    Bahrain,    see 

Khodabakhsh. 
raoghna  (Av.),  butter,  115. 
raspi,  assistant  priest,  367. 
ravan  barsm,  a  ceremony,  387. 
ravara*  (Av.),  352. 
raven,  the,  as  symbol,  76. 
ravens,  near  Urumiah,  75. 
Rawlinson,    Henry    C.,    copied    the 

Behistan  inscription,  178-9. 
carved  his  name  on  the  Behistan 

rock,  192. 

deciphered  the  Ganj  Namah  in- 
scriptions, 172,  177. 
claim  of,  that  Takht-i  Suleiman 
represents    ancient    Ecbatana, 
discussed,  130. 
reception  of  the  author  by  the  Anju- 

man  at  Yezd,  357. 
recitation  of  the  Avesta  at  Yezd, 

363,  367. 
refuge   for   criminals,    place   of,    at 

Hamadan,  170. 
at  Isfahan,  267. 
at  Teheran,  422. 

Rei,  ancient  Ragha,  419,  428-30. 
ancient  descriptions  of,  430-2. 
ruins  of,  432-7. 

obliterated  sculpture  at,  438-9. 
old  brick  tower  at,  436-7. 
Tower  of  Silence  at,  437,  439-40. 
shrine  of  Shah  Abdul  Azim  at, 

428. 
supposed  birthplace  of  Zoroaster, 

360. 

home  of  Zoroaster's  mother,  430. 
religion,    Zoroastrian,    see    Zoroas- 

trianism. 

Resht,  town,  445. 

restrictions  on  Zoroastrians,  374-6. 
resurrection,     Zoroastrian    doctrine 

of,  363. 

ristakhez  (Phi.),  363. 
rites,  see  ceremonies, 
rivers,  no  large,  in  Persia,  24. 
robbers,  82,  90 ',  296,  347. 
roghan,  butter,  115. 
Rokn     ad-Daulah     Hasan,     Buyid 

ruler,  323. 

Roknabad,  river,  323. 
Rudh-ravar,  a  name,  352. 
runners,  desert,  348. 


Rustam,  Afrasiab  defeated  by,  near 

Isfahan,  264. 

paintings  of,  at  Erivan,  19. 
ruzah,  day,  396. 


S 


Saadi,  Persian  poet,  life  of,  333-4. 

works  of,  333-5. 

tomb  of,  333. 

Saadiah,  tomb  of  Saadi,  333. 
Saatlu,  village,  115. 
sacrifice,  of  sheep,  162 l,  372. 

of  goats,  372. 

of  a  camel,  162. 

animal,  survival  of,  at  Yezd,  371. 

true  Zoroastrian,  371. 
saena  (Av.),  eagle,  76. 
Safar  Adilbeg,  the  author's  servant, 

55,  120. 

Sand  Rud,  river,  445. 
sag-did,  a  ceremony,   78,  388,  391, 

392. 

sagri,  shrine  for  a  lamp,  302,  440. 
Sahand,  Mount,  possibly  Asnavand, 
37-8,53. 

height  of,  41. 

near  Lake  Urumiah,  72. 

supposed  cave  of  Zoroaster  in,  61, 
104. 

Mohammedan  worthies  buried  on. 

44. 

sahm-astah,  a  ceremony,  396. 
Sahnah,  village,  235. 
Saidabad  (Asadabad),  village,  242- 

243. 

Sain  Kalah,  village,  121. 
saj  (sez),  391. 

sal,  year,  anniversary,  396. 
sal-girih,  anniversary,  379. 
Salmas,  Plain  of,  78. 

no  ash-hills  in  the,  9.1. 
Samrah,  old  name  of  Gulpaigan,  249. 
Sang-Bur,  rock-hewn  causeway,  295. 
sang-chin,  stone  grave,  393. 
sangl-pusht,  tortoise,  234. 
sanjak,  an  emblem,  12. 
Sanjud,  village,  121. 
Saoshyant,  doctrine  of  a,  known  at 

Yezd,  363. 
Sapor,  see  Shahpur. 
Saralan,  village,  98. 
sarddr,  governor,  18. 
sar-i  sal,  anniversary,  396. 
sarpush,  headgear,  217. 
sarv,  cypress,   324,  327. 
Sasanian  dynasty,  26-7. 
sash,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


463 


Sauj    Bulak,   cuneiform   inscription 

at,  1191. 

Savalan,  Mount,  53,  54,  61. 
savior,    Zoroastrian   doctrine   of   a, 

363. 
schools,  at  Teheran,  423,  427. 

at  Urumiah,  106. 
sculpture  of  Fath  Ali  Shah  at  Rei, 

438-9. 
sculptures,    Achaemenian,    at    Per- 

sepolis,  316-7. 
at  Behistan,  180-1,  210-2. 
at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  297-8. 
in  the  Plain  of  Murghab,  282. 
sculptures,  Sasanian,  at  Tak-i  Bos- 
tan,  216-26. 

at  Naksh-i  Rajab,  308-9. 
at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  300-2. 
at  Behistan,  209-10. 
at  Surat  Daghi,  79-81. 
at  Rei,  438. 

seal,  an  Achaemenian,  54. 
Seld  ibn  Zangi,  Persian  ruler,  built 
the  New  Mosque  at  Shiraz,  325. 
Seids,  102. 
Seleucid  dynasty,  26. 
Seljuk  rulers,  27. 
Semiramis,    said    to    have    visited 

Behistan,  189. 
said   to   have  visited   Hamadan, 

147. 

sez  (so/),  391. 
Shabdiz,   horse   of   Khosru   Parviz, 

1774,  222-5. 

Shabdiz,  name  of  Tak-i  Bostan,  215. 
shab-girih,  vigil,   395. 
shagird-chapar,  postilion,  401. 
Shah,  titles  of  the,  46. 
Shah  Abbas  the  Great,  see  Abbas. 
Shah  Kuh,  peninsula  in  Lake  Uru- 
miah, 72. 

Shah  Kuh,  hills  at  Persepolis,  310. 
Shah    Namah,  epic  poem,  see    Fir- 

dausi. 

shahi,  a  coin,  46. 
Shahi    (Shah    Kuh),    peninsula    in 

Lake  Urumiah,  74. 
Shahistan,  perhaps  a  former  name 

of  Tabriz,  39. 

Shahpur  I,  Sasanian  king,  inscrip- 
tion of,  296. 
represented     on      sculptures     at 

Naksh-i  Rajab,  309. 
represented      on      sculptures     at 

Naksh-i  Rustam,  301. 
represented    on    a    sculpture    at 

Surat  Daghi,  81. 

represented    on    a    sculpture   at 
Tak-i  Bostan,  220. 


possibly  represented  on  a  sculp- 
ture  at  Rei,   439. 
Shahpur  II,  Sasanian  king,  founded 

Kazvin,  443. 
represented     on    a    sculpture   at 

Tak-i  Bostan,  220. 
Shahpur  III,  Sasanian  king,  repre- 
sented on  a  sculpture  at  Tak-i 
Bostan,  220. 

Shamash,  Assyrian  sun-god,  12,  95. 
Shapigan,  treasury  of,  at  Persepolis, 

306. 

Sharafabad,  village,  403. 
sharbat,  402. 

shawl,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
sheep,  near  Urumiah,  75. 

sacrifice  of,  1621,  372. 
Sheikh  Aadi,  Yezidi  prophet,  12,  14. 
Sheikh  al-Jabal,  444. 
Sheikh    Shems    and    Sheikh    Sinn, 

Yezidi  deities,  12-13. 
shepherds,  115,  236. 
Shiites,  Mohammedan  sect,  18,  28, 

411. 

Shir  Kuh,  mountains,  347. 
Shiraz,  history  of,  324-5. 
beauty  of,  323. 

buildings  and  gardens  of,  325-8. 
tomb  of  Hafiz  at,  332. 
tomb  of  Saadi  at,  333. 
Zoroastrians  at,  336-8. 
tobacco  of,  88. 
Shirin,  legend  of,  5,  84,  188,  226-8. 

possible  sculpture  of,  225. 
shirt,  sacred,  380. 
Shiz,  Arabic  name  of  Urumiah,  73, 

74. 

ancient  allusions  to,  132-6. 
a  fire- temple  at,  132-6. 
tradition  of   Zoroaster's  birth  at, 

134. 
identified  with  Takht-i  Suleiman, 

131-6. 

Shurab,  village,  416. 
Siavash,    legendary    fire-ordeal    of, 

343. 

sickle,  Persian,  408. 
Sin,  Assyrian  moon-god,  13. 
slruzah,  thirtieth  day,  396. 
Sivand,  village,  296. 
Smerdis  (Gaumata),  26,  43. 
smoking,  51. 

Zoroastrians  object  to,  358. 
Sofian  (Zofian),  village,  37. 
Sohrab,  paintings  of,  at  Erivan,  19. 
sparegha,  sprout,  30. 
Sparnak,     legendary     governor     of 

Isfahan,  264. 
Spauta,  name  of  Lake  Urumiah,  74. 


464 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Spenta  Mainyu,  363. 
spinach,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
Srosh  Baj,  a  prayer,  381,  392. 
srosh-drun,  a  ceremony,  387. 
Staircase,  Grand,  at  Persepolis,  312. 
Stakhr,  Stakhra,  ancient  city,  294, 

306-7. 
distinguished  from  Persepolis,  the 

citadel,  294. 
stone  blocks,  see  blocks. 
Strabo,  mentions  Lake  Urumiah,  74. 
mentions  Ganzaca,  137. 
describes  the  tomb  of  Cyrus,  286. 
Sudabah,  legend  about,  343. 
sudrah,  sacred  shirt,  381. 
Suez,    Achsemenian    inscription    at, 

176. 

sugar,  craving  for,  111,  358. 
given  to  a  teacher,  381. 
presented  at  weddings,  386. 
made  by  order  of  King  Jamshid, 

100. 

Sulduz,  plain  of,  ash-hills  in,  91. 
Suleiman,  Shah,  built  a  pavilion  at 

Isfahan,  268. 

Sunnites,  Mohammedan  sect,  18,  411. 
sun-worship,  curfew  signal  regarded 

as,  104. 

Surat   Daghi,   hill,   Sasanian  sculp- 
ture at,  79-81. 
Susa,  Achaemenian  inscriptions  at, 

175. 
Suvar  Aklaim  Sabah,  Persian  work, 

53. 

sweetmeats,  52,  357-8. 
synod,  Zoroastrian,  356,  376. 


Tabari,  al-,  mentions  the  fire- temple 

atShiz,  135. 
on  a  copy  of  the  Avesta  at  Stakhra, 

306. 

Tabriz,  history  of,  39-40. 
description  of,  40-6,  50. 
government  of,  41. 
Blue  Mosque  at,  43-4. 
bazaars  at,  44-6. 
execution  of  the  Bab  at,  48-9. 
tachara  (OP.),  palace,  314. 
taffeta,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
Taft,  town,  352,  373. 
Tahir,      governor      of      Khorasan, 
burned  Zoroastrian  books,  359. 
Tahmasp,  Shah,  made  Kazvin  capi- 
tal, 443. 

Tahmuraf  (Tahmurath,  Tahumars). 
306 2. 


supposed   builder    of  the   ruined 

fire- temple  near  Isfahan,  258. 
Taj  ad-Din  Ali  Shah,  vizir,  built  a 

mosque  at  Tabriz,  42. 
takchah,  niche,  255,  383. 
Takhma  Urupi,  Avestan  king,  306 2. 
Takht-i  Bilkis,  mountain,  125. 
Takht-i  Jamshid,  name  of  the  plat- 
form of  Persepolis,  310. 
Takht-i  Khosru,  so-called,  near  Bisi- 

tun,  229 3. 
Takht-i  Rustam,  platform  at  Stakhr, 

307. 
Takht-i  Suleiman,  ruins  at,  126-3. 

the  site  of  ancient  Shiz,  131-6. 

the  site  of  ancient  Ganjah,  136-7. 

not  ancient  Ecbatana,  131,  155-6. 

ancient  references  to,  131-42. 
Takht-i  Suleiman,  stone  platform  at 

Meshad-i  Murghab,  280. 
Takht-i    Taus,    stone    platform    at 

Stakhr,  307. 
Tak-i  Bostan,  name  of,  214. 

description  of,  215-6. 

Sasanian  sculptures  at,  216-29. 
tamarisk  bush,  in  Zoroastrian  cere- 
monies, 369. 

Tamerlane,  see  Timur  Lang. 
tandur,  oven,  45,  98. 
Tang-i    Bulaghi,    rock-hewn    cause- 
way, 295. 

tankards  of  goatskin,  322. 
tanura  (Av.),  oven,  98. 
tapah,  mound,  91. 
Tartars,  invaded  Persia,  27,  40. 
tax,  former  special,  on  Zoroastrians, 

374. 

tayu  (Av.),  thief,  83 l. 
Tazvich,  village,  78. 
Teheran,  history  of,  419. 

description  of,  418-24. 

American  legation  at,  424. 

Zoroastrians  at,  425-7. 

schools  at,  427. 
telegram,  a  Persian,  116. 
temple,  Zoroastrian,  see  fire-temple. 
Termani,  ash-hill  at,  93. 
Thraetaona,  victory  of,  over  Azhi 
Dahaka,    commemorated,    371. 
thread,  sacred,  380. 
tiara,  derivation  of  the  word,  29. 
Tiflis,  6-10. 

Yezidis  at,  10-14. 
Timur  Lang,  Tartar  ruler,  27. 

sacked  Shiraz,  325. 

stormed  Tabriz,  40. 

plundered  Tiflis,  8. 

charmed  by  the  verse  of  Hafiz,  329. 

sword  of,  422. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


465 


Tir  Andaz,   Acting  High  Priest  at 

Yezd,  357,  361,  366,  368,  370. 

Tiridates,  Armenian  prince,  possibly 

on  a  Sasanian  sculpture,  81  *. 
tobacco,  grown  about  Urumiah,  88. 
Zoroastrian  objection  to  smoking, 

358. 

used  as  snuff  by  Zoroastrians,  358. 
Tobit,  book  of,  55,  429. 
toman,  a  coin,  46. 

tomb  of  Abu  Said,  at  Hamadan,  167. 
of  Baba  Tahir,  at  Hamadan,  167. 
of  Cyrus,  278-93. 
of  Esther  and  Mordecai,  at  Hama- 
dan, 168. 

of  Hafiz,  at  Shiraz,  331-2. 
of  Ibn  Sina,  at  Hamadan,  165-7. 
of  Saadi,  at  Shiraz,  333. 
of    a    general    of    Alexander,    at 

Hamadan,  164. 

in  a  gorge  near  Sahnah,  235. 
tombs,     Achaemenian,     at     Naksh-i 

Rustam,  296-300. 
later  Achaemenian,  at  Persepolis, 

311,  319. 
of  eight  Imamzadahs,  at  Tabriz, 

44. 

tortoise,  234. 
towers  at  Rei,  433-7. 

ruins  of  two,  near  Hamadan,  155 *. 
Towers  of  Silence,  see  dakhmahs. 
trade,    Persian,    with    the    United 

States,  47-8. 

Transcaspia,  Tiflis  the  capital  of,  7. 
treaty,  commercial,  with  the  United 

States,  46-7. 
trees,  246,  327. 

trellis-work  at  Abarkuh,  342 l. 
Tughral  Beg,  supposed  burial-place 

of,  at  Rei,  436. 
Turks,  at  Hamadan,  148. 
turquoise,  derivation  of  the  word,  30. 
types,  racial,  4,  25. 


U 


Upairi-saena,  mountain  range,  76. 
Urmi,  form  of  Urumiah,  73 3,  87. 
urn-burial,  96. 
Urumiah,  city,  name  of,  733,  87. 

Arabic  mentions  of,  134. 

description  of,  88-90. 

ash-hills  near,  90-8. 

New  Year's  calls  at,  100-2. 

a  legend  of  the  Magi  at,  102-3. 

a  cave  of  Zoroaster  near,  103. 

curfew  signal  at,  104. 

Nestorians  at,  105. 
2n 


Urumiah,  Lake,  description  of,  71-4. 
various  names  of,  74. 
ancient  references  to,  70 l,  73-4. 
scene  of  the  conflict  with  Afrasiab, 

139. 

reeds  on  the  southern  shore  of,  118. 
Urumiah,  Plain  of,  ash-hills  in  the, 

90. 

fertility  of  the,  86. 
uruyapa,  urvapa   (Av.),  salt  water, 

73,  87. 
urvara  hadhanaepata    (Av.),   pome- 

_  granate,  369. 

urms-gah,  ceremonial  place,  369 l. 
Ushahin  Gah,  a  time  of  day,  395. 
ushtra  (Av.),  camel,  89,  361. 
Uzayeirina  Gah,  a  time  of  day,  394. 


Vagharshapat,  Armenian  village,  19. 
Vairi  Chaechasta  (Av.),  a  lake,  73 2. 
Vairi  Haosravah  (Av.),  a  lake,  1395. 
Vakhtang  Gurgaslan,  Georgian  em- 

rror,  Tiflis  owes  its  renown  to, 

Valerian,    Roman    emperor,   repre- 
sented on  a  Sasanian  sculpture, 

301. 
Vali  Ahd,  Crow     .Prince,  gardens  of, 

at  Tabriz,  i,  . 
Vamik     and     ^  dhra,     Zoroastrian 

work,  359. 
Van,   Armenian    city,    Achaemenian 

inscription  at,  176. 
story  of  a  siege  of,  114. 
Van,   Lake,   connection  with   Lake 

Urumiah,  73 l. 

van,  Persian  origin  of  the  word,  29. 
vara  (Av.),  enclosure,  126,  237. 
Varahran    II,    Sasanian    king,    on 

sculptures  at  Naksh-i  Rustam, 

301,  302. 
possibly  represented  on  a  sculpture 

at  Naksh-i  Rajab,  309. 
Varahran  IV,  Sasanian  king,  221. 
supposed  founder  of  Kermanshah, 

230. 
possibly  represented  on  a  sculpture 

at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  301. 
Varahan  V  (Bahram  Gor),  deposited 

spoils    at    the    fire-temple    of 

Adhargushnasp,  135,  142. 
possibly  represented  on  a  sculpture 

at  Naksh-i  Rustam,  301. 
varak  (Phi.),  raven,  76 l. 
varaza  (Av.),  boar,  9. 
vareghna,  varenjina  (Av.),  a  bird,  76. 


466 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Vash-Shikuft,  mountain  gorge,  295. 

Vendidad,  68. 

Vera,  ancient  fortress,  now  Takht-i 

Suleiman,  137. 
Verethraghna,  76,  367. 
verse  in  the  Younger  Avesta,  Yezd 

Zoroastrians  unaware  of,  365. 
vineyards  around  Shiraz,  326. 
Vishtaspa,  patron  of  Zoroaster,  64. 

had  copies  of  the  Avesta  made,  68. 

sacrificed  animals,  371. 

established   the   fire-temple   near 

Isfahan,  259. 
visits  in  Persia,  50,  100. 
Visperad,  68. 
vith  (OP.),  house,  314. 
voighna  (Av.),  flood,  74. 
vultures,  found  in  Azarbaijan,  76. 


W 


walls,  ruins  of,  at  Ecbatana,  155. 

at  Kangavar,  237. 

of  Kermanshah,  231. 

marble,  near  Kermanshah,  229. 

ruined,  of  Rei,  432-5. 

around  Tabriz,  41. 

of  Teheran,  420. 

Wanishun  (Banishun),  village,  251. 
Ward,  William  Hayes,   an  ancient 

cylinder  described  by,  54. 
water,  reservoir  of,  in  gardens,  327. 

carried  in  goatskin  tankards,  322. 

in  Zoroastrian  ceremonies,  370. 
water-channels,  318,  407,  409,  431. 
water-supply,  of  Tabriz,  42. 
wells,  at  Shiraz,  336. 
wife,   position   of   the,   among  'the 

Zoroastrians,  386. 
windstone,  so-called,  near  Hamadan, 

1731. 

wind-towers,  at  Yezd,  349. 
wine,  of  Shiraz,  326. 
winter,  described  in  the  Avesta,  81. 
Wise  Men  of  the  East,  legends  of  the, 

102-3,  412-3. 

wood,  for  use  in  the  fire- temple  at 
Yezd,  367. 


Xenophon,  death  of  Cyrus  as  pic- 
tured by,  284. 

Xerxes,  palace  of,  at  Persepolis,  316. 
audience-hall    of,    at    Persepolis, 

314. 

portal  of,  at  Persepolis,  313. 
Ganj  Namah  inscription  of,  170-3. 


did  homage  to  the  plane-tree,  66. 
possible  tomb  of,  at  Naksh-i  Rus- 
tain,  296-300. 


Yakut,  refers  to  Abarkuh,  343. 
mentions  Akdah,  403. 
describes  Ardistan,  407. 
on     Asadabad      and      'Khosru's 

Kitchen/  243. 

says  little  about  Behistan,  177. 
on  Shiz,  Gazn,  and  Ganjak,  133. 
records  a  legend  about  the  stone 

lion  at  Hamadan,  160. 
refers  to  Kangavar,  238,  239. 
describes  Kazvin,  443. 
on  the  founding  of  Kermanshah, 

230. 

mentions  Khonsar,  251. 
gives  an  account  of  Marand,  35. 
mentions  Na'in,  405. 
refers  to  Nakhichavan,  22. 
describes  Rei,  432. 
speaks    of    the    fortifications    of 

Shiraz,  325. 

on  Stakhra,  Istakhr,  307. 
mentions  Tabriz,  41 l,  42. 
refers  to  Teheran  as  a  mere  strong- 
hold, 419. 

mentions  Urumiah,  87. 
notes  an  island  in  Lake  Urumiah, 

721. 

on  Yezd  and  Kathah,  351. 
Yankl  Dunyd,  New  World,  346. 
yasht-i  bin-i-Sipandarmlz,  rites,  396. 
yasht-i  daur-i  damah,  rites,  396. 
yasht-i  sedush,  rites,  395. 
Yashts,  68. 
Yasna,  68. 

yazata  (Av.),  angel,  362,  393. 
Yazdagard    I,    Sasanian    king,    re- 
puted founder  of  Yezd,  348. 
married  a  Jewish  princess,  265. 
Yazdagard  III,  Sasanian  king,  27. 
yazdan,  god,  11. 
Yezd,  description  of,  348-50. 
population  of,  350. 
Kata,   Kathah,  an  old  name  of, 

351-2. 
two  old  itineraries  from  Shiraz  to, 

352. 

Zoroastrians  of,  354,  373-7,  398-9. 
Zoroastrian  religious  customs  at, 

378-97. 
meeting   with    the    Anjuman   at, 

357-66. 
manuscripts  of  the  Avesta  at,  358. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


4G7 


legends  of  Zoroaster  at,  360-1. 
pronunciation     of     Avestan     at, 

363-5. 

verse  in  the  Younger  Avesta  un- 
known to  the  Zoroastrians  of, 
365. 

fire-temple  at,  366-70. 
Barashnum  Gah  at,  372-3. 
animal  sacrifice  at,  371-2. 
dakhmahs  in  the  vicinity  of,  397-8. 
Yezdikhast,  village,  276. 
Yezidis,  devil-worshippers,  at  Tiflis, 

10-14. 

Yima,  see  Jamshid. 
yuyo-semi  (Av.),  yoke  of  a  plow,  247. 


zad-o-marg,  charnel-house,  389-91. 
zairimyaka,      zairimyanura      (Av.), 

tortoise,  234. 
Zangi,  river,  19. 
Zarathushtra,  see  Zoroaster. 
Zarch  Kuh,  hill,  397. 
Zargan  (Zergun),  village,  321. 
Zendah  Rud,  river,  255,  265,  269. 
zgeresno-vaghdhana  (Av.),  suggested 

explanation  of,  247. 
Zindan,  Mount,  description  of,  124- 

126. 
possibly    the    ancient    Asnavand, 

1395,  141. 

Zobeidah,  wife  of  Harun  al-Rashid, 
said  to  have  founded  Tabriz,  39. 
said  to  have  founded  Kashan,  411. 
Zofian  (Sofian),  village,  37. 
Zohak,  monster,  legend  of,  264. 
Zoroaster,  5,  53. 

probable  explanation  of  the  name, 

89,  361. 

fanciful  etymologies  of  the  name, 
361-2. 


life  and  teachings  of,  57-67. 

legends  of,  at  Yezd,  360-2. 

associated  with  Urumiah,  87. 

said  to  have  come  from  Shiz,  133- 
136. 

thought  to  have  come  from  Rei, 
360. 

seclusion  of,  on  Mount  Savalan, 
134. 

cave    near    Urumiah    connected 
with,  103-4. 

vision  of,  on  Mount  Asnavand,  38. 

supposed   sculpture  of,   at  Tak-i 
Bostan,  216-20. 

associated    with    Abraham,    404, 
438. 

the  Three  Kings  guided  by  a  sup- 
posed prophecy  of,  102-3. 
Zoroaster,  story  by  Marion    Craw- 
ford, 31. 

Zoroastrian      ceremonies,      general, 
367-71. 

at  the  birth  of  a  child,  378-9. 

of  initiation  into  the  faith,  380-1. 

of  purification,  381-4. 

of  marriage,  385-6. 

connected  with  death  and  burial, 

387-97. 

Zoroastrianism,  26,  28. 
Zoroastrians  in  Persia,  25. 

number  of,  425. 

restrictions  on,  374-6. 

religious    ceremonies   of,    367-71, 
378-97. 

formerly  numerous  near  Isfahan, 
252. 

at  Isfahan,  273-5. 

at  Kashan,  413. 

at  Miandoab,  119. 

at  Shiraz,  336-8. 

at  Teheran,  425-7. 

at  Yezd,  354-400. 
zot,  officiating  priest,  367. 

•\2 


INDEX  OF  PASSAGES 

As  in  the  General  Index,  footnotes  are  designated  by  small  superior  figures  after 
the  page-numbers. 

AVESTAN 


Ys.  0. 

9. 
10. 

11. 

16. 
26. 
28- 
29. 
30. 
31. 
38. 
45. 
46. 
51. 
57. 

Yt.  1. 
3. 
5. 


2 
26 

3 
11 

4 

7 

7 

7 
34 

5 

8-11 

5 

3 

1-2 
19 
12 
14 
21 
17 

1-19 

1 

9 
17 
21 
25 


49 

68 

101 

104 

108 

9.  17-23 

21 

25 


245 

Yt.  13.  93 

3802 

14.  15seq. 

3692 

19-22 

765 

29 

3712 

34-40 

138  3 

17.  37-43 

39  15 

41 

391& 

44 

391 

19.    2 

247  3 

3 

65-6 

56 

391* 

22.     7 

198 

18 

65 

Vd.  1.     2 

247  3 

3 

631 

2.  22 

746 

3.     1 

3172 

4 

3802 

Vd.  3.  14 

379i 

14-21 

2421 

20 

234 

23-53 

3711 

31 

1621,3712 

4.  19 

1621,  371  2 

51 

1621,  3712 

5.  10-14 

70i,    732 

27 

3712 

45-62 

3172 

60 

3711 

61 

3712 

6.    5 

138  3 

44-51 

142  6 

45 

3711,  3712 

46 

469 

67 

92 

91 

76i,378s 
138  8 
142« 
3711 

16 

765,  146i 
1396 
3931 


712,  86 1 
712,  74  & 
812 

3671 

374i 

3881 

389* 

2461 
3741 
4021 

96  2 
390  3 

842 
3841 
3992 


4021 
97i 

771 

77i,304» 


470 


INDEX    OF    PASSAGES 


Vd.    6. 

51 

388  »,  3931 

Vd.  14.  10-11 

246  * 

7. 

5 

842 

12-14 

2462 

30 

77i 

16 

75i 

8. 

10 

389*,  391  1 

16.     1-18 

3841 

16 

78i 

18.  27 

3672 

23-5 

388  3 

28 

3172 

26-7 

531 

54 

3802 

32 

63  ! 

65 

235  3 

35-72 

3822 

71 

3672 

9. 

1-46 

3822 

73 

235  3 

14 

3821,  3882 

19.     1 

3931 

21 

3841 

3 

360* 

13. 

6 

2341 

11 

360* 

41-3 

775 

21-2 

3821,  3882 

44-8 

774 

42 

91 

14. 

2 

367  2,  402  1 

Sir.  2.       9 

732,  1395 

5 

2341,  235  3 

Ny.5.       5 

732,  139  6 

10 

2471,  247*,  247  6 

OLD  PERSIAN 

Bh.  1. 

47 

196 

Bh.  4.     61 

305 

51 

196 

63 

305 

55 

196 

64 

203-6 

65 

196 

65-66 

206-7 

66 

197 

68-69 

207-8 

86 

197-8 

71 

208 

87 

198-9 

73 

208 

88 

199-200 

76-77 

208 

92-6 

200 

Dar.  Pers.    a 

3143 

2. 

39 

312  2 

c 

314  3,  315  1 

59-61 

200 

d 

318 

73-8 

1581 

d  8 

2132 

75 

200-1 

e 

318 

76,  77 

1502 

NR.  a 

2981 

89 

200-1 

a   13-15 

25i 

3. 

87-91 

201 

b 

2981 

4. 

33-50 

182-3 

Dar.  Alv.  1-20 

172 

46 

201-2 

Xerx.  Pers.  a    11 

313* 

49-51 

202 

b    12-30 

3142 

• 

62-64 

182-3 

ca  [cb] 

314  3 

53 

202-3 

Artax.  Pers.  a     [b] 

315  3 

PAHLAVI 

Bahman  Yasht  2. 

17            2692 

Bundahishn       12.     12 

150i 

3. 

10              734,  140 

21 

295  2 

Bundahishn       12. 

2            2952 

14.    23 

76  i 

INDEX    OF    PASSAGES 


471 


Bundahishn 

16. 

7 

140-1 

17. 

7 

73* 

18. 

3 

9i 

19. 

3 

146i 

22. 

2 

73* 

6 

150  i 

23. 

8 

73* 

29. 

5 

126  1 

14 

1261 

30. 

10 

75i 

31. 

10 

2643 

32. 

5 

1261 

Iranian  Bundahishn 

41.    7 

264* 

Denkart 

3.    3 

3071 

5.    3. 

4 

3071 

7.     7. 

3 

3071 

Karnamak 

3.  10 

76  ! 

4.  11 

307  2 

Mainog-i  Khirad     2.   96 

1411 

Mainog-i  Khirad    27.   44 

1381 

Nirangistan      95 

380  2 

Sad  Dar    12.      1-2 

3883 

36.      1 

384i 

1-8 

382« 

37.      1-6 

3831 

63.      6 

264  5 

87.      1-11 

3951 

Shatroiha         41 

3072 

53 

2645,  2653 

68 

1381 

ShikandGumanikVijar2.  2 

264* 

Vendidad  2.    23  (52) 

2642 

3.     14 

3921 

Vijirkart-i  Denig  12,  18,  20 

380  2 

Visperad       1.        1 

9i 

Zatsparam    2.      38 

1172 

6.      22 

140 

VEDIC 


RV.     6.     85.     2 

7.  103.     1-10 
10.     34.     1 


235* 
369  2 


For  convenience  of  reference  a  list  of  the  more  important  Avestan  and  Old 
Persian  words  explained  or  referred  to  in  this  work  is  here  given.  The  General 
Index  should,  however,  also  be  consulted,  especially  for  Phi.  and  Mod.  Pers. 


AVESTAN 

aesa,  246. 
aspahe  astra,  402 l. 
ayazana  paitidarazana,  247. 
daevayasna,  12. 
daitya  gatu,  303. 
gao  huSah,  371. 
gao  jivya,  370. 
gava  azi,  247. 
gavaza,  247. 
kara  masya,  9. 
kastra,  247. 
kata,  390. 
paiti  zbarahi,  360. 
115. 


ravara*,  352. 
saena,  76. 

sraoso-carana,  402 1. 
tanura,  98. 

uruyapa,  urvapa,  73,  87. 
Vairi  Caecasta,  73  2. 
Vairi  Haosravah,  139s. 
vara,  126,  237. 
varaza,  9. 

vara7na,  varanjina,  76. 
voi7na,  74. 
yuyo-sami,  247. 
zairhnyaka,  234. 
zgeresno-va75ana  247. 


OLD  PERSIAN 
ardastana,  315,  407. 
arstani,  203-5. 
asam,  198. 
avamaiy,  202. 
hadi§,  314. 
manuvatam  (?),  207. 
mayakauva,  197. 
patiyavahyaiy,  196. 
s~akaurim,  206. 
tacara,  314. 
usabarim,  198. 
vie,  314. 
viflabis  (?),  196. 


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